660 Shadow of the Stars 1967

Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s screenprint, "660 Shadow of the Stars" from 1967, presents us with a trippy, layered dreamscape of colour. I’m picturing him bent over the printing table, carefully aligning each layer, each colour screen. There's a strange, beautiful head composed of little colourful windows that cascade down to a yellow striated neck. Next to the head are a couple of bottle-like figures in orange and green. Maybe they're vessels? Or are they people? The background has a skin-like quality with its green patterned surface. All the lines give the work a sense of flow and movement, like water rippling. The whole image feels like a puzzle, one where the parts don't quite fit, but that's what makes it so damn interesting. It feels like an exploration of pattern, colour, and form. It seems like he's in conversation with artists like Gustav Klimt or Paul Klee, all of whom play with ornamentation, surface, and symbolism, as a way to express the inner life.