Hanoi Street 

Editor: This is Bui Xuan Phai's "Hanoi Street," an oil painting that offers an interesting cityscape. The restricted palette definitely creates a somewhat somber and restrained feeling for me. What do you make of this painting, from a formal perspective? Curator: Indeed. The restricted grayscale palette emphasizes the geometric structures. Note the sharp angularity with which he renders the buildings. Observe also the almost diagrammatic treatment of the figures. Phai isn't attempting a mimetic representation; rather, he distills the scene to its essential forms. Editor: That's a good point about the essential forms. What effect does the rough texture of the paint have? Curator: The heavy impasto contributes to a sense of materiality, and tactility, and conveys immediacy, wouldn't you say? But notice how the brushstrokes work against any illusionistic depth, emphasizing the painting's surface and thus its constructed nature. How does the repetition of rectangular forms play into this effect? Editor: Now that you mention the rectangles, I see it. It creates a flattened, almost Cubist feel, despite being labeled Realism. I was so focused on the somber feeling of the piece that I completely overlooked that interplay. Curator: Precisely. Formal analysis urges us beyond subjective emotional responses. In a way, the painting almost seems to analyze itself as a constructed image, layer by layer. Editor: I see. I'll be sure to look at how artistic expression arises through careful study of shapes and colours and lines and tones, even of familiar sights and subjects. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. Considering intrinsic components such as style is critical, yet remember to evaluate how formal elements constitute or contribute to broader contexts, histories, and ideologies.