Central Park 1 2016

Albrecht Behmel made this painting, Central Park 1, and wow, is it a trip! Imagine all those little dabs of color, making up this incredible landscape, or rather, a mindscape. I’m thinking about Behmel standing there, wrestling with the canvas, mixing colors, layering them on, scraping them off. It’s like a battle between control and chaos. Look how the left side explodes with greens, reds, and yellows, like nature in full bloom. Then, that straight band of light blue slices through, dividing the painting into two very different worlds. The right side? Totally different vibe. The shapes are like windows, little boxes stacked on top of each other, a city rising up. It kind of reminds me of Mondrian, but gone wild, you know? Like he loosened his tie, threw his hat in the air and got down and dirty with the paint. It’s like Behmel is saying, “Hey, the world is a mess, a beautiful, chaotic, contradictory mess, and I’m just trying to make sense of it all, one brushstroke at a time.”