Yahoo data center, Lockport, New York 2019

Jarik Jongman made this oil painting of the Yahoo data center in Lockport, New York, and it really grabs me. It's all about the brushstrokes, how they build up this industrial scene with a kind of loose urgency. You can almost feel the push and pull of the brush, like Jongman was wrestling with the paint to capture the mood. And the color palette? That burning sunset against the dark buildings. The thickness of the brushstrokes in the sky gives it an ominous feeling. Look at the reflections in the water, how they're not exact copies but more like echoes, broken up and shimmering. It reminds me of Fairfield Porter, his way of finding the extraordinary in the everyday. Ultimately, this painting feels like a reminder that art isn’t about perfect answers. It's about asking better questions.