HDTV 1989

Mark Kostabi made this painting, HDTV, and the oil paint is so smooth, it’s almost like looking at a screen itself. It's wild how he builds up these layers, creating this surreal, boxy world. The way he uses color is really striking, right? The cool blues against the fiery oranges and reds—it’s like he’s setting up two different emotional worlds, placing this isolated figure inside a television. I like how the light bounces off the geometric shapes. Those floating blue rectangles give the piece a sense of depth, drawing your eye into the scene. There’s something about the flatness of the figures, too, that reminds me of early computer graphics or even Giorgio de Chirico, but with this very 80s, almost alien vibe. The picture isn't just what is shown on a TV screen but how screens can impact on us psychologically. It's an ongoing dialogue, isn’t it? We're always borrowing, remixing, trying to make sense of things in our own way.