Untitled 1989

Mostafa Dashti made this untitled watercolor probably en plain air, capturing a sandy, overcast day. It's all about the looseness, the speed of the hand moving, and the almost accidental meeting of pigment and water on paper. The wash of yellows and grays that make up the beach and sky is really evocative, like a half-remembered snapshot. I love how the car and figures are sketched with these dark blue-gray strokes. Notice how the blue pulls forward, making a contrast with the soft yellows that give the piece depth. It's like a memory emerging from a fog. It reminds me of Fairfield Porter’s watercolors, the way he could capture a whole world with just a few brushstrokes. But Dashti’s got his own thing going on, a kind of raw, immediate quality. It's a reminder that sometimes the most powerful art is the stuff that embraces uncertainty and imperfection.