818 Let Us Pray Manitou Wins 1981

Curator: So here we have Friedensreich Hundertwasser's "818 Let Us Pray Manitou Wins," a 1981 piece. I see landscape and cityscape intermingling, created with acrylics on canvas. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: Chaos! Glorious chaos, but with a thread of serenity woven right through it. The colors almost vibrate off the canvas, and those... are those towers or just fantastically overgrown trees? Curator: Well, that's quintessential Hundertwasser, isn't it? That rejection of straight lines in favor of nature’s supposed disorder. What reads as chaos, I think, is an embrace of organic form and a rejection of modernist architectural norms. Editor: Yes, the whole thing dances on the edge of naive art, doesn't it? The longer I look, the more faces I see emerging from the architecture, and the colours pop in an expressionistic way! The blue against the earthen tones... is there a theory to his use of contrast, or is he purely led by instinct? Curator: Both, I suspect! He developed his own theory of "transautomatism," emphasizing spontaneous creation. It wasn’t just about painting what you see but what you feel. Hundertwasser believed that architecture should align with nature; the shapes suggest the whimsical buildings he designed in reality. Each line and color breathes with his singular vision, blurring the distinction between nature and city. It looks organic but calculated; childlike yet profoundly thought-provoking. Editor: There's something about that upward movement in the twin towers that I really respond to. They’re rooted but almost pleading, aren’t they? "Let Us Pray," as the title suggests, I imagine. But is "Manitou" nature's god? A First Nations' deity? Or Hundertwasser's nickname for the universe? I'm keen to investigate that! Curator: Precisely! That’s what I find captivating; the interweaving of personal spirituality with an environmental consciousness that feels prescient. I am sure that spending time with Hundertwasser's art rewards viewers with hidden meanings and emotional connection. Editor: I feel ready to revisit my own city with newly receptive eyes!