Park Place 1993

Wayne Thiebaud made this painting, Park Place, using oil paint and canvas, and look at the process here! The paint is lusciously thick, like frosting, and yet somehow also flat. The buildings seem to almost slide down the canvas, and I wonder what kind of brush was used here, it looks like a palette knife was dragged down to create these lines. Look at the use of colour on the left-hand side, that use of rich greens create this wonderful contrast to the grey slabs of the building. It makes me want to dive into the depths of the hill, but be repelled by the monolithic buildings on the right. That yellow line shooting up to the top of the canvas is like a bolt of energy that makes the whole thing come alive. The artist has an amazing way of making something that should be ordinary, like buildings, feel so strange and new. It's like Edward Hopper meets a dollhouse! It reminds you that painting can be about making the familiar unfamiliar, and that's pretty cool.