An early abstraction by Northen California artist Maurice Lapp. Lapp uses a dark background on which he paints rectangular and square shapes in red, white and gray and green lines. The overall effect is perhaps inspired by the great Italian printmaker Giovanni Piranesi, whose architectural etchings of ancient Rome and the Prisons have engaged other artists for centuries.
The "houses" emerge from the backgound and recede again. They could be ancient ruins or a modern housing structure. Viewed in another way it could have been inspired by an aerial view of streets, roofs, parks etx.
In the final anaysis the painting is a composition, meant to engage and tantalize the viewer's curiosity. Its effect, if any, it up to that viewer.