Hot Still-Scape for Six Colors - 7th Avenue Style 1940

Stuart Davis made this painting, “Hot Still-Scape for Six Colors - 7th Avenue Style," with oil paint in his studio. Look at that red! It’s so hot, right? I can almost feel the heat radiating from it. I can imagine Davis in his studio, feeling the energy of the city, maybe listening to jazz, layering shapes and colours. He's pushing and pulling at the composition, trying to capture the rhythm and energy of 7th Avenue. What was he thinking? Maybe he was trying to find a way to make the painting vibrate, to capture the feeling of being in the middle of all that urban energy. And then there’s that spiral shape. It feels like a visual echo of all the energy swirling around. It’s kind of like Davis is saying, "Yeah, it's chaotic, but it's also beautiful." It reminds me of the way other painters like Matisse used colour to create a sense of movement and energy. And how other abstract painters used collage to represent the dynamism of city life. Davis, Matisse, the others; all in conversation.