Landon Metz’s abstract paintings are rhythmic and repetitive. The Arizona-born, New York-based artist creates graceful biomorphic compositions by pooling paint on raw canvas: a process that is both meditative and meticulous; the results sparse and minimalist. All of which makes his choice of home — a 19th-century Gothic Revival church complete with intricate stained glass windows — seem somewhat surprising.
Yet, “having lived in a quirky place like this, it’s hard to imagine living in a ‘normal’ home,” says Metz of the imposing structure, which sits amid the leafy, brownstone-lined streets of Brooklyn Heights. After “giving art school a try” in Los Angeles, Metz dropped out to move to New York in 2009 with his wife, fashion designer Hannah Kristina Metz. For more than a decade they lived in Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant, before setting their sights on Brooklyn Heights — the increasingly chichi waterfront neighbourhood just south of the Brooklyn Bridge, sought-after for its low-rise, often historic houses. Finding somewhere to buy was a challenge.
“The area is really expensive now,” says Metz. “The town houses in our price point just needed so much work. And, well, this place is really cool.” Built in 1850, the Presbyterian church was a place of worship until the 1970s. “At the time, a lot of artists and writers were hanging out over here. Warhol shot a lot of his films in the neighbourhood,” says Metz. “When the parish disbanded it became a queer arts space for a while.”
