Cityscapes: John Dubrow

John Dubrow (American, b. 1958) often spends years on his paintings. He isn't interested in capturing exactly what he sees, but instead works and then reworks the large, simplified shapes and colors until he finally feels like the painting has come to a satisfying conclusion. As with all his work, there is a tension between the subject working in space, or existing as flattened form.

John Dubrow spent a year on the 87th floor of the World Trade Tower, painting his fantastically complex and cubistic "View of Manhattan". While he worked, Rackstraw Downes, Diana Horowitz and Lois Dodd were painting their own interpretations of the city on other floors of the same building.

World Trade Center: View of Manhattan oil on canvas 90" x 96"1997

Westbeth Roof oil on canvas 72"x 81" 2001-2002

Tel Aviv oil on canvas  59" x 78 3/4" 2000

Sheinkin Street, Tel Aviv oil on linen 68" x 74" 2000

Winter Playground oil on linen 46" x 58" 2011-13

And it seems sometimes like I could work on a painting forever. You do one thing and a whole new world opens up and why hold on to the old image when you’ve got this new world to explore? For me it’s just an exploration in change -John Dubrow in an interview with Painting Perceptions