Treatment room 1984

Richard Hamilton created this room as an environment in which the viewer is invited to consider the way the world enters our consciousness. The materials are hard, cold, and yet they invite us to engage with them. The textures are smooth, and artificial, in the way you might find in a hospital, or dentist's office, and the colour palette is muted, clinical. The eye is led around the room by the silver and white forms, but is also drawn to the pillow and blanket on the bed which are rumpled and soft, and suggest a human presence. The television screen breaks the stark whiteness of the room, and encourages a consideration of the world outside, and the way media intercedes between the individual and reality. It reminds me of some of the work of Jeff Koons, which appropriates the aesthetic of consumerism and high-end manufacture. But unlike Koons there is a very human dimension to this work, as if the artist is inviting us to join him in a moment of reflection.