Alex Katz
West Palm Beach, 1997
Information about the artwork
- MaterialOil on canvas
- Dimensions183 x 198.4 cm
- Year of acquisition1998
- Inventory numberUAB 218
- On viewCurrently not exhibited
- Copyright© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn [2024], Photo: Haydar Koyupinar, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich
More about the artwork
In Katz’s work, reflections often serve as a means of emphasizing the difference between a thing and its visible (painted) appearance. In some works, the pictorial objects are almost exactly duplicated at a waterline in the middle. In other works, Katz approaches the limits of formal abstraction. “West Palm Beach” omits any concrete, physical object altogether, representing only the surface effect of reflected light. Against a vast expanse of black, four irregular columns of white and colored brushstrokes descend from the canvas’s upper edge. Although we can quickly recognize these marks as representing city lights reflected on the sea, they also insist on their materiality as a gesture of painting.
