The Ataraxic Room

The three The Ataraxic Room paintings were made in response to a commission for The Chancery Rosewood Hotel, London. The hotel occupies the former US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, originally deigned by Enron Saarinen in 1960 and recently transformed into a hotel by Sir David Chipperfield. 

 

I made three paintings knowing that only one was required. 

 

The painting is housed in main reception area at the hotel’s entrance level. The dimensions were prescribed and given the location at the heart of the building I knew it would become the meeting point for hotel guests while arriving, departing and preparing for dinner. A dog, a sight hound, lies beneath a table; guardian, elegant and perhaps unexpected in an august hotel environment. I liked the idea that guests would arrange to convene in front of the hound. 

 

The painting’s title indicates the intention of the painting.  (SC)