The Heat of Cold Distance. 2026. Acrylic on canvas, 36×48 in. By Payal Agarwal.
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The Heat of Cold Distance

Urban isolation rendered in vulnerable pink and red.

Year 2026
Medium Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions 36 × 48 in (91 × 122 cm)
Status In Exhibition
Price $12,567 USD
Currently on view

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Grand Forks, ND. Through . While the piece is on view, sale inquiries may route via the venue. Happy to introduce you directly via the form below.

About the work

A woman stripped of protective layers gazes toward a cityscape of lit windows and towers. The work depicts urban isolation at its most fundamental — intense need directed at unreachable connection. Heat versus cold distance.

Even though we are constantly surrounded by millions of people, we still feel lonely. The urbanscape almost rejects any real connection these days.

The exposed body is rendered in vulnerable pink and red tones while the inhabited city remains fundamentally empty and distant.

More views

Studio view

A nude woman reclines on indigo sheets, gazing across a luminous skyline of distant towers and bridges. The Heat of Cold Distance, 2026, by Payal Agarwal.
A nude woman reclines on indigo sheets, gazing across a luminous skyline of distant towers and bridges.

Details

The figure's pink-and-crimson back curves toward a jagged city of vacant red and emerald facades. The Heat of Cold Distance, 2026, by Payal Agarwal.
The figure's pink-and-crimson back curves toward a jagged city of vacant red and emerald facades.
Reclining hips and limbs glow in raw pink against rust-toned towers receding into blue distance. The Heat of Cold Distance, 2026, by Payal Agarwal.
Reclining hips and limbs glow in raw pink against rust-toned towers receding into blue distance.

Surface

Layered strokes of rose, scarlet and bone reveal the canvas weave beneath the figure's skin. The Heat of Cold Distance, 2026, by Payal Agarwal.
Layered strokes of rose, scarlet and bone reveal the canvas weave beneath the figure's skin.

In the studio

Payal Agarwal stands beside the finished canvas, her reclining figure adrift before the painted city. The Heat of Cold Distance, 2026, by Payal Agarwal.
Payal Agarwal stands beside the finished canvas, her reclining figure adrift before the painted city.
The artist's brush touches into the cityscape's blue-grey towers above the figure's pink shoulder. The Heat of Cold Distance, 2026, by Payal Agarwal.
The artist's brush touches into the cityscape's blue-grey towers above the figure's pink shoulder.
Payal Agarwal leans close to refine the painted skyline's vermilion blocks in mid-process. The Heat of Cold Distance, 2026, by Payal Agarwal.
Payal Agarwal leans close to refine the painted skyline's vermilion blocks in mid-process.
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