Circling Sharks 1 2014

Albrecht Behmel made this image of circling sharks using felt tip pens. It's like he started with a simple doodle – just imagine his hand moving, drawing one shark, then another, building up this swirling vortex. I can imagine the artist in a flow state, each shark shape leading to the next, the composition emerging organically. The flat colors are bright and playful, but the subject matter introduces a bit of tension. What do you think he was feeling when he was creating this piece? It reminds me a little bit of Klee, but with a contemporary edge. It's an interesting take on the age-old question of representation and abstraction – how much do you need to show to convey an idea or feeling? It seems to me that artists are in a perpetual conversation, riffing off each other across time and place. Painting becomes a form of embodied expression, embracing uncertainty.