Times Square 2013

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to Patrick Pietropoli’s "Times Square," painted in 2013. It's currently held in a private collection, so we are incredibly lucky to show it here! The artist renders the iconic cityscape through an impressive oil painting technique, rich in impasto. Editor: Whew, New York, right? That overwhelming, almost oppressive feel... I get a lungful of car exhaust just looking at it. There's a kind of... organized chaos about it, you know? Curator: Organized chaos – I like that description. Pietropoli seems interested in the very idea of the modern city, highlighting its infrastructures as an essential piece of city identity and experience. How the streets feel cold when we see all this dark tones everywhere... Editor: And that plume of steam rising in the middle—it's like the city is exhaling all its anxieties. Those two lonely figures crossing the street, they are nearly swallowed by the urban monster. It’s romantic and frightening. Curator: It's compelling to consider the evolution of landscape painting, from pastoral scenes to this vision of the contemporary cityscape. Here, Pietropoli acknowledges both the grandeur and alienation of urban life and their impact on citizens’ psyche. Editor: You know, even though the palette is subdued, almost monochromatic, there's still a light playing here, somewhere beyond that plume. See how it grazes over surfaces... Like it promises something, perhaps the same promises that draw millions of dreamers to this city. Curator: Perhaps. It’s important to note how artists negotiate this tension in representing places like Times Square: they contribute to and critique the romanticism associated with it. I do wonder what future art historians will say about such representation. Editor: Who knows, maybe they will laugh at our "modern anxiety", hopefully because they fixed it. I still feel touched, by the subtle melancholy permeating this canvas... It’s really captivating. Curator: Indeed. The work encapsulates our relationship with these large city centers, making us question our impact on them and the way they influence us. Editor: I came with the anxiety, but now I feel invited to look for those shy touches of hope and subtle colors in unexpected corners of the painting… in the streets… in life!