Robbers 1984

Hiro Yamagata made ‘Robbers’ and I'd guess it was using printmaking techniques, given its flat planes of color and sharp lines. It looks to me like Yamagata approached art-making as a kind of game, layering colors and shapes to create a whimsical, dream-like vision of a rainy city. I’m drawn to the way Yamagata renders the rain – it's not just falling, it's creating this whole shimmering, watery world. Look at how the reflections on the cobblestones create a sense of depth, even though the overall image is quite flat. The color palette is mostly cool blues and greens, which enhances the feeling of a wet, urban landscape. But then there are these pops of warm colors – the red umbrella, the yellow lights from the buildings – that add a sense of energy and excitement to the scene. The mark making and the details in the umbrellas almost resemble those of Ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints. Yamagata's work reminds me of David Hockney, in the way both artists use color and composition to create a sense of place that's both familiar and slightly surreal. Art's like that, always in conversation with itself.