Paula Cooper, 197 Tenth Ave, NYC, 2017
oil paint on canvas
120 x 150 cm
Limpid planes of white, grey, yellow and pink meld into each other creating a magical play of color and light. Paula Cooper, 197 Tenth Ave, NYC by Jan Wattjes (1981, the Netherlands) is part of a series of paintings – The White Cube Concept - in which Wattjes reduces the interior of renowned art galleries to their essence: color and light. The white cube, Wattjes purports, is “the empty space of a gallery between shows where nothing is to be seen except white walls.” Wattjes compares it to an empty canvas from which painting begins. His work is a reminder that beauty and contemplation lie hidden behind a city’s anonymous facades.