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I personally think this is perhaps
Raymond Neher's greatest
painting. It is actually a self-portrait depicting the sense of
loss of identity he experienced during the time in which he
lived in New York City. The painting is set in a coffee shop on
a winter morning. The painting depicts the same man and woman in
repetition. Both the man and woman are actually self-portraits
of Neher. Two men and two women sit at the breakfast counter
drinking their coffee. Each has a donut and check that says
"Thank you! Joan" in front of them. Behind them stand the same
man and woman awaiting their turn. The reflective effect of the
glass window of the coffee shop is achieved with
Mylar that has been meticulously cut out and affixed around
the man and woman standing at the back. A neon sign on the
outside of the window reads "Coffee Shoppe...Dom..." Something
that struck me after I had gazed at this painting for a long
time was that even though there is so much repetition in the
artwork, no one figure is exactly the same as another, achieved
by the clever positioning of the waitress behind the counter. |
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