Vue De Downtown III 2013

Patrick Pietropoli made Vue De Downtown III with oil on canvas sometime after 1953. This is a painting that hovers in a space between representation and abstraction. I'm imagining Patrick starting with the sky—laying down washes of grey and seeing where it takes him, then tilting his head to find a cityscape there. What might he have been thinking as he built up this world with paint? I feel a sense of wonder mixed with melancholy in those strokes. The paint is applied thinly, allowing the texture of the canvas to peek through, adding a tactile dimension to the work. Look at the way he's used the vertical gestures to suggest skyscrapers. It's almost like each stroke is a building block. Painters are constantly in dialogue with one another, borrowing, riffing, and responding to the ideas of their predecessors and contemporaries. This piece reminds me of the work of other urban landscape painters, while still being distinctly Pietropoli's own. Every painting is a site of inquiry, inviting us to see, think, and experience the world in new ways.