Abstract 

Curator: Woah, intense! It hits you like a fever dream, doesn't it? Like trying to remember a story that’s all broken up. Editor: I can see why you say that! What we're looking at is a work entitled “Abstract”, painted with acrylics, by Walter Battiss. You’ll notice its unrestrained gesture, characteristic of abstract expressionism. Curator: Exactly! So much implied motion and feeling crammed into one space. Those raw colors... it's like the canvas is a battleground for emotion. Reminds me a bit of trying to untangle your thoughts after a particularly wild party! Editor: And think about Battiss. A South African artist engaging with abstraction, trying to express inner states, the unsayable. I can’t help but wonder what personal mythology, what history he was trying to process. The recurring motif of circular shapes also reminds of cellular bodies under microscopic view! Curator: Mythology, huh? I dig it. Like primitive cave paintings updated for the modern existential dread. This thing doesn't feel 'decorative' at all, more like a desperate howl made visible. I even sense a submerged memory. Maybe Battiss was inspired by microscopic universes! Editor: Precisely! He was constantly searching for a primal state of being. You see in the bold use of contrasting color the psychological symbol of tension that echoes through generations. The circular shape calls for some protection. Is this is the essence of all the forms? A constant search for safety from a hostile world? Curator: Maybe. Or maybe it's all just a big Rorschach test and we are all just projecting. I keep coming back to this idea that it looks like a dream you can almost grasp but that constantly evades understanding. Editor: And perhaps that is the beauty of it, inviting such personal interpretations and emotional engagement. It acts as an open symbolic gateway. Curator: Amen to that. Okay, on to the next vortex of feeling.