Som 1976

Manabu Mabe made 'Som' using loose, gestural brushstrokes and a bold colour palette. I love how the piece feels like a snapshot of a fleeting moment. It’s less about representation, and more about the act of painting itself. The texture here is key, especially that thick impasto where the blue, purple and brown come together. You can almost feel the weight of the paint, and imagine Mabe working quickly, layering colours on top of each other, not worrying too much about blending or perfection. It's like he's capturing a raw, unfiltered energy. That single red line that drips from the bottom of the form and trickles down the canvas is particularly striking. Mabe reminds me of the New York School artists like Helen Frankenthaler, in his use of colour and expressive brushwork. Ultimately, this painting invites us to embrace ambiguity and find our own meaning within it, appreciating the ongoing conversation in art.