20. (Canal Street)

When he dies of a drug overdose at 33 during a vacation in the Maldives, a German artist, lately resident in New York, leaves behind in his Düsseldorf studio a sequence of 40 aluminum panels painted in bands of red, yellow and black. Apparently conceived on a transatlantic flight (among the earliest traces of the work is a sketch on airmail stationary carrying the Lufthansa logo), the series reflects the last few years of his life in New York City, where his favorite activities included studying displays of Native American art, seeking out live jazz, and playing pinball at dive bars around Canal Street. Written in pencil on the back of each painted panel is the title of the work: To the People of N.Y.C.

(Blinky Palermo)