Wet Flat Iron

Wet Flat Iron

70 x 50 oil 2014

This was a very wet-on-wet technique, where the fluid paint was worked into running glazes, the material mimicking the nature of humid streetlight halos during an inky urban night. When I look at it at a distance (seeing it as a photograph in this post) I note that it is slightly surreal.

The picture is dream-like or pared down to a memory. I simplified the intersections, leaving out  confusing barriers of bollards and planters that clutter the area nowadays. Why are there three taxis, only? Do they echo the triangular Flat Iron Building? A lone pedestrian tries to hail them.

The Flat Iron, Ever Thus

Flat Iron

40x30 oil 2012

(Seems every time I paint this intersection there is some kind of temporary blockage marring the scene, as when you find a cathedral's facade scaffolded for maintenance. Not so this summer; the building anchored the scene in "ever-thusness."