Godmother 1973

Abdul Mati Klarwein painted 'Godmother', and you can almost smell the oil paint, right? This looks like a piece that grew organically, layer by layer, the whole thing shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. You can almost see Klarwein there, wrestling with the canvas, trying to capture something ethereal, something just beyond reach. I wonder what he was thinking when he laid down that juicy red for the figure in the foreground. What does the figure mean? Is she guiding us through the painting and into the landscape? Look at the way that tendril-like line connects the Madonna-like figure to the woman below. That graceful gesture alone communicates the sense of connection. Klarwein’s paintings are often associated with psychedelic art but I think he has more in common with the Symbolists like Odilon Redon or Gustave Moreau. Artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. It’s a beautiful thing.