Hotel Chelsea Bathroom 1968

Valerio Adami made this painting, Hotel Chelsea Bathroom, and it's like he's inviting us into a private, almost theatrical space. The shapes are so clearly outlined, filled with flat, sometimes clashing, colors. I can almost see him, first drawing and then carefully applying the paint within those boundaries. Was he thinking of David Hockney's clear swimming pool paintings? Or the flat planes of Pop Art? I’m so curious about that figure in the tub. Is it a real person, or is it just a cartoon? And what about the black shapes? They hang there like big thoughts or maybe just dark secrets in a New York hotel. I wonder if Adami was thinking about how spaces hold memories, or maybe he just liked the way the light bounced off those blue tiles. It feels like he’s in conversation with all kinds of painters, from comic artists to the old masters.