653 The Boy with the Green Hair 1967

Friedensreich Hundertwasser made 'The Boy with the Green Hair' with screen printing, and you can tell he was invested in the making. The colors, like that background of green and yellow, are built up by layers of lines, a kind of graphic vibrancy. Looking at the surface, there’s a definite physicality. You can almost feel the texture of the ink, the way it sits on the paper, slightly raised. The red stripe, how it cuts right through the image, it’s so bold, so unapologetic. And the way that stripe ends in a teardrop shape. Hundertwasser was really interested in architecture, and you see that here, in this funny character made up of lines and shapes like a building. Maybe he's taking cues from Paul Klee, who also turned simple forms into little worlds of their own. Art is just this big conversation, right? A back-and-forth across time. This piece is a reminder that art doesn't have to make sense, it just has to make you feel something.