The sleepless night 1988

Hanno Karlhuber made this mysterious painting, The Sleepless Night, maybe at night. The colors are muted, and the composition is simple. There is a view of a window and the edge of the artist's world. I feel for the artist, I wonder what it was like to create this piece? I imagine them standing, brush in hand, trying to capture the essence of insomnia, watching the night unfold. It is an unusual composition with a bedside table featuring very specific, symbolic items - a glass of water, a packet of pills, a pair of glasses, and a box of matches. I think I know what is going on here. The brushwork looks quite considered in the way that the light from the lamp makes the objects glow. It's hard to tell, but it feels like the paint is thin, washy even, perhaps like Milton Avery. The colours are so evocative, the blue seeping in from the night outside and the pale luminescence from the bedside lamp, the only comfort. You can feel that light and colour are not merely representational here, but emotional, reaching out to other artists in the conversation.