Fotog’s skyline images preserved at B’klyn cemetery
said. “We’re thankful that we were able to get this done.”
Serrano died Oct. 4, 2016, as he tried to climb to the top of a Coney Island-bound F train rolling past the Fourth Ave./Ninth St. station in Park Slope so he could get a unique photo of the city skyline.
At the time of his death, he had 130,000 followers on his Instagram page “Heavy Minds,” which is full of heart-stopping photos from the tops of some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, including Trump Tower and 20 Exchange Place over Ground Zero.
With more than 5,000 photos on his son’s computer, Herman Serrano and his wife began holding gallery shows of their fallen son’s work on the Lower East Side, one of Christopher’s favorite parts of the city.
“I was amazed at the turnout, and the stories that I’m hearing at the galleries from people he touched, the lives that he touched,” Herman said during Saturday’s tear-filled ceremony. “I’m determined to keep his name out there, to keep his artwork out there, and make sure he’s not forgotten.”
Serrano joins a host of luminaries and artists buried at the cemetery, including Jean Michel Basquiat and several pioneers of photography.
The snap-happy lensman often took photos while seated on the ledges of the massive buildings — his legs dangling into the picture’s frame.
“It’s lonely up here,” he commented on an Instagram photo of himself on a precarious perch above Times Square posted two days before his death.
Despite his antics, Christopher remained an unassuming young man with an eye for the
beauty hidden within the city’s sprawl. urban “His pictures, particularly his night pictures captured the excitement and energy of the city,” said cemetery historian Jeff Richman. “He had an excellent eye that could see things that others couldn’t see. It was something he captured remarkably well while taking great risks doing it.”
Christopher always wanted a gallery show, but his father knew that he would have made a fuss at all the attention he received Saturday.
“I remember telling Christopher, I want you to be humble, not knowing how humble he was,” his father said. “It wasn’t until now I realize how humble he was.”
His younger brother Ryan Serrano agreed.
“I have a feeling he would say we’re doing too much,” the younger sibling said. “It’s a tough time of year, but it makes me happy to see everyone come together and be able to do things like this for Christopher.”