Untitled 1997

Mostafa Dashti made this untitled artwork using paint, maybe oil or acrylic, to create a really atmospheric effect, though I don’t know when exactly. I see a lot of surface texture, especially towards the bottom of the piece where there are areas of thick impasto that contrast with the much thinner paint in the upper sections. The limited palette emphasizes the tonal range, giving the work a photographic quality, but it's one where the focus seems slightly off. There’s a soft spray of paint to the upper right, like a burst of light breaking through heavy cloud. The painting seems to be built up through layers, almost like an accumulation of sediment, so perhaps the artist shares something with Anselm Kiefer in his exploration of weighty and melancholic subjects. Ultimately, it's about ambiguity and the stories we project onto abstract forms.