The Windows series — 18x24 in — Oak Park studio

An open window does not always mean freedom. Yellow walls frame a landscape of blue and pale green; the shutters throw long shadows into the room. Beyond the opening is air and distance. Inside, even the quiet seems to be keeping a secret.

I painted this while reading George Orwell’s 1984, thinking about Winston Smith and Julia, and the fragile private world they try to make within a society that refuses them one. The landscape recalls the novel’s imagined refuge of the Golden Country: open space as an alternative to scrutiny, a place where being together might briefly be enough.

This is not a literal illustration of their meeting place. The window holds the tension instead. It offers a view out, while reminding us that an opening can also leave us exposed.

About the artist
Satish Prabhu brings travel, reading, and everyday encounters into a practice of reconstruction. Figures, interiors, and familiar objects become ways to explore memory, belonging, and the distance between people. This is an original, artist-created work, not an AI-generated image.

Dimensions: 18x24 in
Location: Oak Park studio

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All the dreams in the world: another interior shaped by literature
The Empty Chair: a room holding an absent presence