Michael James Freedman

The Distance From Here · Seed painting 03 / 04

1,924 Feet from Here

Carolyn Cox

Michael James Freedman · Oil on linen · 18 × 18 inches

An immense wheel. An unfinished crossing.

$1,200.00 USDUnframed original

$50 USD shipping · U.S. and Canada only.
Applicable tax calculated at checkout.

Stays in the exhibition. Ships after the exhibition ends.

1,924 Feet from Here · The complete paintingClick to enlarge ↗

The person

Carolyn Cox.

June 26, 2024
Bond & Butler Streets, Brooklyn

Carolyn was 83. She lived on Bond Street, crossed the street to get food, and greeted her neighbors. One remembered that she said hello to everyone.[1]

Listen

Read the transcript

Elegist: Carolyn Cox was the neighbor who greeted everyone.

Sociologist: She was eighty-three. She lived on Bond Street and would go across the street to get food.

Elegist: I like that her neighbor remembered the greetings. Not everyone bothers to say hello. Carolyn did.

Sociologist: On June twenty-sixth, 2024, a dump-truck driver turning from Butler onto Bond stopped to let her cross. Then he moved again before she had reached the other side. He struck her. She died at the hospital.

Elegist: He'd already stopped.

Sociologist: Yes.

Elegist: The street was hers for those seconds. She was still in it. Eighty-three years of life, and she couldn't have the time to finish crossing the street.

On June 26, 2024, a turning truck driver stopped to let her cross at Bond and Butler Streets, then moved again before she reached the other side. He struck her. Carolyn died at the hospital.[1]

Looking closely

A wheel that exceeds
the frame.

Two details from the oil painting. Click to see the complete work.

Broken rings.Changing bands of color keep the wheel turning.
A person beside a machine.A narrow red figure stands between wheel and grille.

The wheel presses beyond the painting’s edges. Broken rings of blue, violet, white, and yellow hold several turns at once, while the thin crosshatching of the grille fixes a rigid plane beside them.

Between those immense forms, the red figure has barely enough space to exist. The painting makes an unfinished crossing physical: a person still beside a vehicle that has begun to move.

1,924 feet in a straight line from Littlefield to Bond & Butler Streets. The title brings the loss into the gallery’s surrounding neighborhood.[3]

Part of The Distance From Here

One of four
seed paintings.

1,924 Feet from Here is one of four seed paintings in The Distance From Here at Littlefield. The oils establish the visual language of the installation and hang beside an interactive New York City map.

Visitors choose a place on the map. Four generated images of nearby fatal crashes emerge, carrying the paintings’ language into the wider city.

Explore the exhibition ↗
Installation mockup · Seed paintings at left, map in the center, projections at right.1,924 Feet from Here is at the upper right of the four seed paintings. Click to enlarge ↗

From the studio

How scale
becomes pressure.

The hand study and early oil layer show the painting’s central decision: an immense wheel beside a slender figure. In the time-lapse, bands of color build around that wheel. Watching it develop makes the pressure of the finished painting easier to feel.[3]

Studio time-lapse · 0:30 · Silent
Hand study · Wheel and figure
First oil layer

Collect the original

1,924 Feet from Here.

Oil on linen · 18 × 18 inches · Unframed

$1,200.00 USD

$50 USD shipping · U.S. and Canada only.
Applicable tax calculated at checkout.

Stays in the exhibition. Ships after the exhibition ends.

Notes & further reading

Sources

Biographical and crash details come from the sources listed here.

  1. Jackie Zamora, Streetsblog NYC, June 27, 2024. Carolyn’s age, a neighbor’s recollection, the street geometry, and the reported sequence of yielding and restarting.
  2. CrashCount NYC, collision 4735930. Additional crash documentation and reporting references.
  3. Artist’s studio and exhibition records. Title, medium, dimensions, straight-line distance, source photograph, and documented painting stages. See the four original works.

Collision record 4735930.

The four original works

258 Feet from Here Victor Hidalgo 1,104 Feet from Here Cellie Muschamp 1,924 Feet from Here Carolyn Cox 3,504 Feet from Here Arturo Alberto Baez Cordero

See the painting at Littlefield

The Distance From Here

Arts Gowanus Open Studios · October 17–18, 2026.
Littlefield · 635 Sackett Street, Brooklyn. Other visits outside scheduled events are by invitation.

Plan your visit ↗