Untitled 2006

Mostafa Dashti made this untitled painting with some kind of reddish-brown material, maybe a combination of paint and something else? There's this volcanic, molten feel to the whole thing, but what really grabs me is how the surface is worked. It's not just about the color, but the texture, the way the light catches on these craggy, built-up areas. It's like the paint itself is having a conversation, thick in some places, thin in others, almost like it's been scraped and layered over and over. Near the top left, there’s this creamy, off-white splash. It looks like a quick decision, a sudden interruption in the fiery landscape. Thinking about other artists playing with similar ideas of process, the first person who comes to mind is Anselm Kiefer. But where Kiefer goes big, epic, even tragic, Dashti keeps it intimate, like a contained explosion. Art’s all about that, right? Not just what you say, but how you say it.