MAMARONECK — After heavy flooding engulfed much of the village in March 2007, local artist Piero Manrique waded into the streets to photograph what he called the “surrealistic scene.”
Four years later, he is auctioning off one of his original oil paintings based on those photos and giving the proceeds to the Westchester Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that helped residents and businesses recover after the flood.
The auction, to be held at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, will kick off Manrique’s weeklong exhibition — timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the flood — at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio at 451 E. Boston Post Rd. His artwork will remain on display at the studio from 6 to 9 p.m. next Monday through Friday. Prints from his “Flood Series,” as well as other oil and mixed-media pieces, will be for sale.
“These beautiful mixed-media works capture the simultaneous beauty and destruction caused by unusually powerful natural forces in a suburban neighborhood,” Manrique said.
Manrique was born in Peru and moved to Mamaroneck at age 13. The Mamaroneck High School graduate studied fine art at Purchase College before transferring to Parsons The New School for Design in Manhattan and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 2005.
His next local exhibition will be at the Wainwright House in Rye, beginning March 27.
Photos and artwork courtesy of Piero Manrique.
