Made during the Covid lockdown, these view camera portraits of Lewandowski's friends and acquaintances speak to the universal longing for connection and human touch during the height of the pandemic. Some are friends at home, some are in parks. In one portrait, there's a hospital mask that casually hangs from the subject's arm. It's not any point of emphasis, but it does remind one of the catastrophic fever dream we collectively experienced four years ago, and that is ever-present in the show.

Lewandowski's photographs also appear against the backdrop of queer history. The show's title refers to the Colossus of Rhodes, the massive statue of the sun god Helios that fell after only 50 years due to a devastating earthquake. The title is additionally a nod to the 2004 eponymous party at Fire Island Pines that disbanded after rain began to pelt the beach. Several other connections to queer history appear throughout the show. Perhaps most notably, Lewandowski's self-portrait references a painting by the visual artist and NYC drag legend Tabboo! that depicts Mark Morrisoe.

The work thus embodies the intimacy unique to queer visual culture during a period when people felt more alienated than ever before. When we felt our fragility and the ease at which life could be taken away by circumstances beyond our control. It is not unlike the original Colossus of Rhodes, seemingly invincible, that crumbled as the earth shattered underfoot.

Ian Lewandowski (b. 1990) is a photographer from Northwest Indiana. His first solo exhibition, Community Board, was exhibited at The Java Project in Brooklyn in 2019. The Ice Palace Is Gone, his body of large-format color portraits made from 2018-19, was published as his first monograph by Magic Hour Press (Montréal) in 2021. My Man Mitch, his body of photographs and photo-based material native to his home state of Indiana, was published by Kult Books (Stockholm) in 2022. He also teaches undergraduate and continuing education courses in photography at The New School and Gowanus Darkroom, and manages and prints the photo work of Kenny Gardner (1913-2002). Ian's work negotiates picture and body histories. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband Anthony and dog Seneca.