Courtyard Fountain 1990

Hiro Yamagata made this painting, Courtyard Fountain, and he has this way of letting colors spill and blend that feels totally dreamy. It’s all about the process, right? How you layer and let things happen. Look at the fountain itself – the water is rendered with this wispy, almost vaporous quality. It's like the paint is trying to be water, blurring the line between the real and the imagined. And the balloons! They're not just floating there; they're these little explosions of pattern and color, each one a mini-universe. The rainbow feels so… intentional. This piece reminds me a little of David Hockney's playful use of color and space. Like Hockney, Yamagata isn’t afraid to embrace a certain kind of artifice. It’s a reminder that art is a conversation, a dialogue across time and between artists. There’s no one way to see the world, and that’s what makes it interesting.