498 The Beard Is the Grass of the Bald-Headed Man 1961

Friedensreich Hundertwasser, sometime in the twentieth century, made this painting with, I imagine, layers and layers of colored pencil and paint. The painting looks like a head, but also like a tree stump. It has this incredible cross-section, like a growth ring, a swirl of time. Each ring painstakingly rendered, a meditation on time, life, and growth. I can picture Hundertwasser bent over this canvas, patiently layering color upon color. I love how the brown of the tree trunk morphs into a human face, with eyes peering out beneath a brow line of concentric circles. Is this a portrait of a tree, or a tree growing out of a person? The green 'beard' and the buildings in the background make me think about Hundertwasser's ideas about architecture and nature. The surface is built up in such a way that it feels very tactile. It makes me want to reach out and touch the piece, to feel the grooves and the bumps of the paint. Like all painting, it is an invitation into a way of seeing.