Red on Broome

Oil on linen, 18″ x 24″, 2021

I was inspired by this restaurant entrance on Broome Street in Soho , with its intense red color and all the rectangles inside other rectangles. (Note that the two doors are both in shadow, but the door on the left is a little brighter from the reflections to the right, and the door on the right a little dark from the shadows on the left.) There is a contrast between the clean shapes of the red doors and the rough shapes of the brickwork above. Almost all of the composition is in horizontals and verticals, but the fire escape casts diagonal shadows below, and the water hose, figure, draining soap foam, and graffiti on the pay phone provide some organic shapes.