Madchen am Meer 1973

Dieter Asmus made this captivating piece, Mädchen am Meer, with what looks like an airbrush and very precise stencils. The process here is fascinating, especially how the artist builds up the image with these tiny, controlled dots. The texture has this incredible smoothness, like a photograph, but with a handmade feel. The way Asmus uses color is just as striking. He creates a hyper-real effect, where the skin tones almost glow against the flat blue background, and that one small white and red bobber. Look closely at the way he models the back of the girl. It's all built from tiny dots, a pointillist method with a futuristic twist. The light seems to come from everywhere and nowhere, flattening the image while simultaneously giving it depth. This balance reminds me a bit of Alex Katz, with the same emphasis on surface and an interest in the graphic potential of painting. What I find most engaging is how Asmus embraces a kind of playful ambiguity, inviting us to see the world in new and unexpected ways.