Untitled 1981

This ‘Untitled’ artwork by Mira Schendel, is all about surface and texture, a black on black meditation. Imagine the artist, Mira Schendel, coaxing out the subtle nuances of shade, of the paper, feeling its tooth and grain. The color is pulled across the canvas, creating a world of subtle shifts in tone. It's a dance of light and shadow, a testament to the power of reduction. It reminds me a little of Ad Reinhardt's black paintings, where you have to really look, almost meditate, to see the variations in the monochrome surface. You can see the weave of the canvas beneath, hinting at a hidden structure, and the layers of paint, built up over time, each stroke adding depth and complexity. There is something meditative in the blacks, a quest for the perfect dark that has been picked up by many artists since.