Face in a Landscape 1961

Karel Appel made this raw and vigorous painting, ‘Face in a Landscape’ using oil on canvas, and signed it in 1961. The first thing you notice is the urgency in the marks, Appel attacks the canvas with thick strokes of black, white, red, and blue. It’s a maelstrom of clashing tones, which somehow resolves into the titular face. Look at the swirls of brown and black which form the eye sockets, and the white slashes above them, like furrowed brows. The paint is applied so thickly, it's practically sculptural. It’s as if he’s wrestling with the paint, trying to force it to yield this image. Appel's work reminds me of Asger Jorn who shared his interest in spontaneous expression and raw, childlike imagery. Like Jorn, Appel embraces the messy, unpredictable nature of painting, reminding us that art is not about perfect representation, but about capturing a feeling, an energy, a moment of pure, unfiltered expression.