The Empty Restaurants of New York

By Wijnanda Deroo in Galleries — 04 Jan 2011

When a restaurant is empty, is it still an eating establishment? Wijnanda Deroo’s portraits of vacant restaurants, taken in four of New York City’s five boroughs, reflect just as much on human habits—although people are conspicuously absent from her photographs—as on the spaces themselves.

Interview by Nozlee Samadzadeh

Why did you decide to photograph empty restaurants?

In 2009, I was invited to take part in an event called “Dutch Seen,” a celebration of Henry Hudson’s arrival in New York. I was asked by Kathy Ryan, curator of the show and the photo editor of The New York Times Magazine, to do a project about New York City. I came up with the idea of taking photographs of restaurant interiors as a way to reflect some of the different cultures, neighborhoods, and people of New York. I wanted to make a kind of cross-section that I show from the most simple restaurant to five stars, with different cultures. Continue reading ↓

“Inside New York Eateries” is on view at Robert Mann Gallery through Jan. 29, 2011. All images © Wijnanda Deroo. Courtesy Robert Mann Gallery, New York.

21 Club, 21 West 52nd Street. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Cafe des Artistes, 1 West 67th Street. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant, Grand Central Terminal. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Jerry’s, 90 Chambers Street. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Lederhosen, 39 Grove Street. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Papaya Dog, 42nd & 9th Avenue. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Relish, 225 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Tavern on the Green, Central Park. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

The River Room, Riverbank State Park, 145th Street. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

The Russian Tea Room, 150 West 57th Street. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Yonah Schimmel's Knishes, 137 East Houston Street. From the series Inside New York Eateries, 2009.

Interview continued

Where in New York are these restaurants?

I wanted to try to get a wide range of areas and types of restaurants. The show includes photos from all the boroughs of New York except Staten Island. I wanted to include restaurants that reflect their neighborhoods, like an Italian restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, or a Russian restaurant in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. Some of the restaurants I knew I wanted to include from the beginning, and others I found by walking around the neighborhoods.

Describe a photoshoot. When were these taken, so that the restaurants are prepped but empty?

I selected restaurants by the interiors to show certain types of eateries and different cultures and atmospheres. In the fancier/more expensive restaurants, I made appointments with the managers. In the smaller restaurants, I just walked in, either early in the morning or between three and five in the afternoon, when they were set up for dinner but didn’t have many customers. I shoot using existing light.

How did you decide to contrast such places as a bar in Grand Central station and a Papaya Dog hotdog restaurant?

I wanted to give as much status to both; the interior of a Papaya Dog deserves as much attention as a more expensive restaurant, they both represent and show New York.

Where are the people in these photographs?

Instead of actual people there is the presence of people who have been and will be there.

Are these portraits, still life photos, or sculptures?

These are portraits of New York City.

What are you working on now?

I just finished my book, Indonesia (published by De Verbeelding, Amsterdam), and I’m focusing on still lifes.