In Empty Rooms (1999-2000) Greaves combines the structure of a Japanese print with a dream image, using flatness to suggest the denial of access. Despite the title, these rooms cannot be entered and, despite the scale of the painting, our feeling of freedom is frustrated. We are shut out. The space is impossible to enter.
Derrick Greaves
Empty Rooms
Oil on canvas
137 x 183 cms (53.84 x 71.92 ins)
1999
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
Sold
Provenance:
Private Collection, London
Exhibited:
Derrick Greaves, Paintings and Drawings 1952 - 2002, James Hyman Gallery, 28 January - 4 March 2005
Literature:
Derrick Greaves: Paintings and Drawings 1952 - 2002, James Hyman Gallery, London, 2003, (cat. 39), illustrated p.33.
James Hyman, Derrick Greaves: From Kitchen Sink to Shangri-la, Lund Humphries, London 2007, illustrated p.145.