The Wish for Power 1959

Konrad Klapheck made 'The Wish for Power' with paint and canvas, and what immediately grabs me is how he's turned a mundane machine into something so…brooding. The color palette is almost monochromatic, but it's the textures that really get to me; that smooth, almost airbrushed finish makes this image feel so slick, so cold. Look at that keyboard. Each key is meticulously rendered, but somehow, they don't invite you to touch them; they almost repel you. I think of Giorgio de Chirico, who also painted unsettling architectural landscapes, filled with strange mechanical objects. Klapheck is not just painting an object, he's painting a feeling. What is this desire for power? Is it the power to create, to destroy, to control? Maybe it's all of those things. It’s a funny thing, painting.