View of Westwood
From the Getty Center
Robert Winter, 2005


Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
36" x 36"

Giclee Print:   $600
On Sheet Canvas, Unframed, 30" x 30"

Framed Original:   Not currently for sale

 

  


Artist's Notes

This scene might seem to be some sort of realization of Le Corbusier’s urban design visions of a “radiant garden city,” with sparkling multi-use towers juxtaposed against broad, open greenbelts.  That’s largely an illusion--the middle ground only looks as green as it does because of the canopy of trees and the expanses of lawns in fully developed suburban communities.  Still, it’s interesting how close the net effect from this angle is to Le Corbusier’s vision. 

It’s also more than a little ironic that such an effect should appear in Southern California, an area that’s often vilified as exemplifying all that’s offensive about unplanned urban sprawl.

Despite what people from other areas may say, the fact is that there are areas of Southern California that can be as heartbreakingly beautiful as movie stars--particularly during the winter months, when most of the rest of the country is wrapped in dull browns and grays.  The winter rains in Southern California cleanse the air, and impart a distinctly Mediterranean glow to the light.  In the slanting winter light of late afternoons, as in this scene, the colors shift palpably toward rose and gold and purple.

As a painting, this is very much a composition of broad, massive shapes--the shaded hillside and the staircase-clad side of the building in the foreground playing against the largely undifferentiated greenspace in the middle ground and the vertical slabs of the office towers in the background.  The angles of the staircase sections also mirror the angle of the hillside in interesting ways.  (In fact, when you step back to consider the composition as a whole, the entire foreground section may come to resemble some sort of giant origami creation.)

I’ve very deliberately backed off from literalistic representation in this canvas, to allow the more abstract compositional elements to come to the fore.

 

© COPYRIGHT 2005 ROBERT WINTER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.