Untitled 1940

Karl Knaths made this untitled painting using oil on board. Look at those flat planes of color. See how they tilt and crash into each other? It's like he’s captured a landscape, but broken it into pieces, shuffled them around, and then reassembled it, according to his own logic. The surface is alive with brushstrokes, thick and confident. In the centre, there's this tangle of black lines, like a nervous energy trying to escape the canvas. It reminds me a little of de Kooning, but with a more grounded, earthy feel. The blues, purples, and greens create this strange, brooding atmosphere. There's a playfulness in the way Knaths handles the paint, a willingness to let the medium speak for itself. It’s as though he’s inviting us to get lost in the process, to see the world not as it is, but as it could be.