Santa Monica Pier 

Editor: Here we have Dan Graziano's "Santa Monica Pier", an oil painting done en plein air. The composition is almost divided into the cool blues of the sea and sky versus the warm beige of the sand. There’s a dreamy quality to it. How would you interpret this piece? Curator: Well, considering plein-air painting, we see a focus on capturing a fleeting moment, an immediate experience of light and atmosphere. Piers themselves are interesting liminal spaces, structures built for leisure that extend into nature, inviting the commodification of natural spaces and resources. The lack of figures here is notable; what could that signify in relation to the pier’s usual purpose? Editor: Perhaps a commentary on tourism, then? Its absence highlighting its ever-presence. Is the artist trying to emphasize the architecture rather than the experience of visiting it? Curator: Possibly. Or maybe focusing on the inherent structure allows him to depict it for its architectural relevance. It offers visual cues—form and line, which draw our eye along the coastline and into the scene, but what’s not clear from the title of the work, but known because the pier is specific is it being done in California in particular – What kind of audience is intended for work portraying leisure this way in a certain locale? Editor: That’s really interesting. So, by presenting it so starkly and architecturally, they’re really framing how this particular leisure activity reflects the values of, say, Californians at the time the picture was painted, if they know the pier is in California. Curator: Precisely! We’re seeing the pier as an icon, potentially embodying societal aspirations for recreation and access. But also to what kind of class are they alluding to? It requires a viewer to be able to recognize it as leisure time instead of it coming off as part of someone’s work. Editor: That perspective really changes how I view the painting; thank you. Curator: And thank you! Thinking about these factors deepens our understanding of the pier’s societal role as well as how painting is perceived when the average viewer engages with it.