Carmen Kaplan 1967

Abdul Mati Klarwein made this painting, Carmen Kaplan, without a specified date, and wow, what a trip! It’s like a landscape and a portrait had a baby, and that baby is peering at us with a very direct gaze. The texture is unreal. Klarwein builds up this rocky, mountainous form that morphs into the sitter's chest. The paint looks thick in places, all these little dabs and swirls giving the rocks their craggy quality, and there’s this smooth, almost airbrushed finish on the face that’s super surreal. Then you drop down to the reflection in the water, and it’s all about these stark horizontal lines. The eyes, though, are the real showstopper for me. Those big, green, slightly bugged-out eyes staring right back at you, it’s unsettling but captivating. It reminds me of some of those surrealist landscapes by Yves Tanguy, that same sense of otherworldly calm mixed with a touch of the uncanny. It's art that doesn't give you easy answers, and that's what makes it so good.