Nathaniel Rackowe, Dubai 5, 2014

Nathaniel Rackowe’s artworks are a fascinating amalgamation of today’s metropolitan experience evoked through the vicissitudes of light. Using mass-manufactured, derivative products, he manages to create contemporary monuments of stability, permanence and beauty.

Contrasts of light and shade inform Rackowe's series of bitumen paintings. On the reverse of the welded steel frame he sprays acid yellow or warm red, which creates a visible glow around the works.  Bitumen, a type of oil, is applied to honeycombed card, which gives depth and a raw edge to the works. The aspect ratio of the painting’s size is always 2:1, reminiscent of a cinema screen, which gives a stretched perspective - also perhaps the view from a car window. 

The images in this series are true compositions selected from hundreds of photographs he took of Dubai in May 2014, driving through diverse areas of the city - industrial, historic, tourist, business, retail - fascinated by the way the city has changed since his first visit in 1999. 

Bitumen on card, steel, and paint

48 x 23.5 x 2.5 cm 18 7/8 x 9 1/4 x 1 in