Som 1976

Manabu Mabe made "Som" with juicy, expressive marks in a warm color palette of orange, white, and blue. Imagine him building up the painting with strokes of thick, luscious paint. He is layering and scraping, deciding, changing his mind. The painting emerges through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with Mabe, imagining him thinking, “Ok, orange background… bold choice! What now?” The white paint swoops down with such force, doesn't it? Like a waterfall, or maybe a bird in flight? It feels gestural and immediate. You can almost see Mabe’s hand moving across the canvas. Then there are those vibrant blues and reds at the bottom adding a punch of energy and tension. Mabe, like many painters, is in conversation with other artists across time, inspiring creativity. Painting is an embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, open for endless interpretations!