New York Computer

In 1962, Hopper painted 'New York Office'. In the painting, a woman reads a letter behind a large window. The glass of this window separates her from the city and simultaneously exposes her to it. The city, however, stands empty, devoid of the life one might expect from New York, and the result is that the focus lands entirely on the reading woman, illuminated by the fall of the light. In 'New York Computer', this light falls not upon a woman, but instead falls upon a machine, and its flickering screen provides the only sign of life. This, however, is where the question lies: does this computer inspire connection or even empathy - do we read its flickering as communication - do we read it as...View all