Restaurant Overlooking the Pacific 1990

John Register painted Restaurant Overlooking the Pacific with a cool detached brush, building atmosphere with a very precise, almost architectural, understanding of form and space. The surface of this painting is smooth, almost slick. You can hardly see the brushstrokes, which gives it a clean, almost industrial feel. But there's a lot of texture going on, especially in the ocean, where the strokes create a deep sense of space. I particularly love the way the light hits the back wall, forming a perfect triangle of brightness. It's like a spotlight, drawing your eye to the quiet stillness of the room. Register reminds me a little of Edward Hopper, another artist who found beauty in the loneliness of modern life. But there's something more serene, less fraught, in Register's work. It's a space for quiet contemplation, a moment of pause in the endless conversation that is art history.