Refinery 

Editor: So here we have "Refinery" by Jean David, rendered in acrylic paint. It is difficult to miss its resemblance to a complex cityscape! It almost feels like a diagram, reducing the industrial landscape to geometric essentials. What strikes you most when you look at it? Curator: Its pictorial structure. The canvas is dissected into a series of geometric planes, each assigned a specific chromatic value. Notice how the artist employs color not realistically but rather as a tool for defining space and form. Observe how cool tones recede, creating depth, while warmer colors advance. Editor: That’s fascinating! So you’re saying the painting isn't about accurately depicting a refinery, but more about how the artist composes shapes and colors? Curator: Precisely. Note the arrangement of circles, triangles, and rectangles. Each shape seems meticulously placed, contributing to the overall structural balance. One could argue the puffing plumes are perhaps a mere design, which echo other curving shapes at the ground level of the painting? Are they smoke or simply compositional devices? Editor: It’s amazing how such a rigid structure can still convey a sense of movement and even... life? Curator: Indeed. It's this interplay between rigidity and dynamism that makes it so compelling. This push and pull contribute to the vitality of the image. Ultimately, the artist prioritized form over faithful representation. What is left is, indeed, modern design! Editor: I hadn't considered that it's not trying to be literal at all. Now I see it's an industrial, perhaps even elemental arrangement of shapes, tones, and balance, and less about an actual place. Curator: A visual language! Precisely. It’s about deciphering the artist’s particular code of representing that reality.