Godmother 1973

Abdul Mati Klarwein made this painting, “Godmother,” and it’s a trip, right? The way he builds up the surface with these tiny, precise marks feels almost psychedelic. Look at the lower left corner, at the woman’s hair. The paint is laid on so meticulously, creating this incredible texture that makes you want to reach out and touch it. The red is so intense, it almost vibrates. Then, your eye travels up to the godmother figure, and it’s like she’s floating, this column of color against the landscape. And that white, almost liquid, form that’s coming out of her? It’s so ambiguous, so open to interpretation. Klarwein’s work reminds me a bit of Hilma af Klint, in the way he mixes the earthly with the spiritual, and invites us to see the world in a completely new way. It’s not about answers, it’s about the questions.