Cities Full of People

"Brewpub," oil on panel, 24x16, 2018

Cities are where most people live now, at least in this country. Accordingly, a few years ago it occurred to me that because of that simple demographic, it might be more interesting to devote time to discovering and painting the urban environment--the cityscape. In other posts I've mentioned that there were several aspects of cities that attracted me. Besides the simple fact of population, the abundant simple geometric shapes of the city can be intriguing as they overlap and overshadow one another. You can look at almost any city, big or small, and discover infinite variations on those shapes--cubes, cylinders, etc.--that provide opportunities to also study color, value shifts, and so on. One of the fun aspects of my newest cityscape, Brewpub (above), was working out the shapes of various objects as they overlap in space. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of doing these city scenes, though, is working out the figurative elements. Generally I work these out in advance, at least mentally, before launching into the work. Sometimes though I just wing it, which is what I did with Brewpub. As the work progressed, generally top left to lower right and top to bottom, the figures simply took shape, and in the end the group and gestures were completely spontaneous.

Edward Hopper, "Early Sunday Morning," 1930

Unless you're painting a city in the dead of night, there are always people around, and they almost always figure in my work. That makes for another wide spectrum of opportunities.

Although my work has been compared to Edward Hopper, the are a lot of differences. Mr. Hopper was a painter well known for his city settings, for example. The streets in his paintings generally empty, though. Mr. Hopper's work (by his own estimation) deals with loneliness, so it's no surprise that when they are present people are often alone or in couples. You seldom see a group. But Hopper's people are nearly always indoors and we see them as if we're peeping in. His streets are desolate. An excellent example is Early Sunday Morning, shows a city building raked with early morning light. No people are in sight. But cities today aren't so empty. Cities are teeming with people, especially now that moving into city centers is the trend. There are people on the sidewalks. There is nightlife, and congregations of people.

My concept of cityscape painting involves combining what Hopper did with facades, shapes, light, color and so on with the passing human parade. In my view of the city people are everywhere--walking, sitting, arguing, loving, simply being human. It's hard to exclude figures from a cityscape without making the painting seem like an architectural rendering. That is, it's important to me to imply narrative and emotion. I want my figures to be expressive. In Brewpub there is a couple who are having a bad moment of some kind--she is walking away head high and arms crossed, and he is watching her go with arms spread wide as if in confusion. What is happening between them? Your guess is as good as mine, but whatever is happening, perhaps it reverberates for viewers of the painting. 
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Previously
City Streets
Cityscapes
Cityscapes Redux