In the Avenue of the Americas series, Pizzaroni’s lens operates on an almost cinematic scale, beginning with the bustle of a busy street and zooming in to capture the exchange between a vendor and a halted pedestrian. In the contrast between the larger image of the city and the personal transaction, the marble façades of the high-end commercial buildings and the knock-off designer bags, the artist highlights discrepancies between consumer image and practice, between the pretense of luxury and the standards of production. Rockefeller Center plays host to business, tourism, and culture, but Pizzaroni shows that its function as a site for black-market exchange is equally paramount. In his careful process of mapping, this series charts the staid flow of commerce against the bursting market tributaries.

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