Rooftops 1982

Editor: Kevin MacDonald's "Rooftops" from 1982, created with colored pencil and pencil, presents this hazy cityscape, focusing just on the tops of a few homes. It feels incredibly still, almost like a dream. What do you see in this piece, looking at it from your perspective? Curator: The first thing that strikes me is the artist's conscious decision to depict only the rooftops. It draws attention to the construction itself, the materials used, and how those materials dictate the form. We see subtle variations in color and texture achieved through colored pencil - gray asphalt shingles versus what looks like aged, perhaps mossy, green ones. The emphasis is not on individual stories but on the aggregate of these manufactured, everyday objects, pointing to a collective, shared environment. How might mass-produced housing influence a sense of community or isolation, or even the class divisions implicit in varying building material quality? Editor: So, you are saying it's less about individual houses, more about the fact that they are manufactured the same? Is that the art? The repetition? Curator: Precisely. Think about the labor involved in the extraction of raw materials, the production of these building components, their distribution, and finally, the assembly on site. MacDonald’s delicate handling of humble materials encourages us to consider these unseen processes. There’s an implication, too, of consumption. These are not monumental structures meant to last for centuries. They're commodities with a life cycle. What kind of statements do these rooftops make in relationship with each other? Editor: Wow, I never thought about it that way. I was just seeing shapes and colors, but now I see a story about where things come from. Thanks for this new vision. Curator: My pleasure! Examining art through its materiality unveils the complex economic and social relations embedded within. Hopefully you can see other images using the same techniques!