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Park Avenue Cars Series

1969–1974/2024-ongoing

The Park Avenue Cars series has been an ongoing project for nearly 70 years. It began in the late 1960s, shortly after Janet Ruttenberg moved to New York. Standing on Park Avenue, she was transfixed by the stream of vehicles racing past glass towers, their reflective surfaces catching fragments of sky, buildings, and faces inside.

Car Panels installed in the East 11th Street studio, photographed by Malcolm Varon, 1977

Ruttenberg in the East 11th Street studio, photographed by Malcolm Varon, 1977

Car Panels (6 Panel studio installation), photographed by Malcolm Varon, circa 1977

Each car panel is constructed as part of what Ruttenberg calls an “etching sandwich,” a multi-layered approach to image-making that pushes the boundaries of traditional print practice. This includes a layer of etched stainless steel followed by industrial enamel spray paint, then window-shaped etchings on paper, and finally a plexiglass overlay.

Panels 10-12 in the East 11th Street studio, photographed by Malcolm Varon, circa 1977

Window prints, photographed by Fionn Reilly, 2024

Window prints, photographed by Fionn Reilly, 2024

The window prints contain miniature human dramas: A couple mid-argument, a child in the back seat, a dog leaning into the breeze. In some panels, silkscreen skyscrapers layer over the mirrored Plexiglas surface.

Exhibition view at University of Dubuque with 6-panel composition, Unknown photographer, 1976

Selections from the Park Avenue Cars Series have appeared in significant exhibitions over the decades, including early presentations at the University of Dubuque and the Flint Institute of Arts in 1976, and a major installation at the Union Carbide Building on Park Avenue in April 1977. Several panels were later shown at the Brooklyn Museum and at ArtYard in 2019.

Panels 13-14 on view at Union Carbide Exhibition, April 1977.

April 1 – 28 1977 exhibition in lobby of Union Carbide Building, 270 Park Avenue. Panels 8-12 along the South Lobby, Unknown photographer

Explore the original 1977 Car Panels
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14-panel Park Avenue Cars, photographed by Tom Powel Imaging, 2024

The Park Avenue Murals (2024–ongoing) use large-scale video projection to turn walls into frames, integrating the architecture into the artwork.

In 2024, Ruttenberg returned to the series with a renewed sense of inspiration and possibility. The new works feature floor-to-ceiling video projections that ripple across multi-panel configurations. Their shifting reflections evoke the fleeting moment that first sparked the artist’s vision.

Detail of 14-panel Park Avenue Cars, 2024