Mohnblumen 2022

Gazmend Freitag made this painting, Mohnblumen, in 2022, and it's all about how the paint goes on, the gestures and the colour mix. You get the feeling that the act of painting is as important as whatever the painting is meant to represent. There's so much happening in this image; it's not just a field of flowers, it's a field of greens and reds, and all the shades in between, laid on with visible brushstrokes. Look at the big red flower, how it's built up of so many little marks, like a mosaic, but made of paint. You can almost feel the texture of the canvas through the paint, and the different layers Freitag has built up. Those almost black marks down at the bottom seem to ground the whole picture. It reminds me of some of Joan Mitchell's paintings, that same freedom and love of colour. Art is never really finished, just picked up and carried on by someone else.