Demolition of the Old House, Dalston Junction, Summer 1974 1974

Curator: Kossoff’s "Demolition of the Old House, Dalston Junction, Summer 1974" presents an urban landscape in the process of erasure. There's a palpable sense of transience. Editor: The churn of material! I see the sheer weight of application, the thick impasto reflecting the labor of destruction and renewal. It’s like witnessing the physical act of tearing down and rebuilding. Curator: Yes, and the image of demolition carries a potent symbolic weight, especially given Kossoff’s personal history marked by displacement. The diagonals, the fracturing, they all speak of disruption. Editor: But also, consider the materials themselves, the oil paint slathered on, almost like plaster or concrete. Kossoff isn’t just representing a scene; he’s enacting a process with his own hands, collapsing the distinction between art and craft, high and low. Curator: I agree, that Kossoff seems to be trying to find permanence in the ephemeral nature of demolition, turning rubble into an enduring image. Editor: This piece leaves me pondering the constant flux of the urban environment and the often unseen labor underpinning its transformation.