Milkscape 1983

Abdul Mati Klarwein’s Milkscape is a red, almost monochromatic painting, that is made of hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny marks. The whole painting feels like an active field. It’s like an ant farm. The surface is dense and alive, yet cohesive, pulling you in, deeper and deeper. You can almost hear the quiet buzz of nature itself. The marks appear to be similar in size and shape, but up close each one has its own unique character. It reminds me a bit of Guston’s late paintings, where he used simple, repetitive forms to create a sense of weight and density, but here Klarwein has this psychedelic landscape emerging from the marks. What I love about this is how Klarwein embraces a sort of controlled chaos. Each mark is intentional, yet the overall effect is one of wild, untamed energy. It's a reminder that art, like life, is a process of constant becoming, an ongoing conversation between intention and accident, control and surrender.