City Block Series #4

Robert Petrick’s "City Block Series #4" is a beautiful evocation of change and architecture in the tradition of Richard Diebenkorn’s "Ocean Park" series. Diebenkorn is famous for his highly abstract and gesturally geometric cityscapes. Initially, one might see Diebenkorn’s paintings of Santa Monica as an ariel view of the city, where crisscrossing streets form an abstract geometric pattern. Diebenkorn, however, attempted to do away with the false dichotomy of "seen above and below". Regardless of the angle, he saw everything as a commingling of shapes and light, which defied figurative representation. Petrick is equally unconcerned with exact representation and equally preoccupied with color and form. He not only paints the nascent skeletons of soon-to-be buildings but also the sound and fury of their construction. "City Block Series #4" communicates the intrusive feelings of change these new buildings usher in, the unrelenting cacophony of construction and activity with which they flood their neighbors.