An Obsessive Cataloging of New York's Windows

Sidewalk-facing windows in Manhattan are like year-round advent calendars for the voyeuristic: Peep into one, and you might be rewarded with the sight of a million-dollar parlor rehab from Interior Design, a spandex-clad sexagenarian sweating through a Zumba workout, or what seems like 200 cats packed into 100 square feet of trash and newspapers.

Given the wealth of visual gold lurking behind the panes, it's kind of awesome that José Guízar ignores it completely for his illustration project "Windows of New York." Guízar's interest in windows ends at the very surface of the glass; he wants to savor the pure architectural beauty of these urban apertures, their shape and color and the occasional A/C unit or houseplant. So each week, the 26-year-old Mexican native takes a walk around Manhattan to photograph windows that cry out to him. Later, in his studio, he'll draw them in a fashion reminiscent of the lovingly minimalistic cartoons of Chris Ware.