432 is part of an ongoing series of works informed by 432 Park Avenue. The ‘pencil-like’ building is a slender structure in the heart of Manhattan designed by architect Rafael Viñoly. He was himself inspired by a trash can designed in 1905 by Austrian designer Josef Hoffmann, a pioneer of Modernism.
My infatuation for this deceptively simple building has led to drawings, prints, and paintings either of it, or inspired by it. 432’s shape, grid, symmetry, height, and overall structure many seem elementary, but have provided a rich source of material for works that reflect permutations and combinations of scale; wholeness and fragmentation of the composition; slight shifts in color, value, and texture.
Image: 432 #5 — 430”X22”, acrylic, oil stick, and graphite on paper, 2019