Untitled 2007

Mostafa Dashti made this Untitled artwork, and it's all about the process, the way the colors blend and bleed, creating something new. The painting is dominated by thick, almost sculptural blacks contrasting with watery blues. Notice how the black paint at the top seems to have been applied with a palette knife, creating peaks and valleys. The blue, in contrast, is thin and translucent, like a wash. The way the blue pools and drips suggests a real engagement with the materials. Look at that central white shape, almost like a burst of light. Is it water? Is it land? Dashti reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter, who was also deeply invested in the materiality of paint. Like Richter, Dashti seems to be exploring the possibilities of abstraction, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty. It's a conversation, a constant back-and-forth between intention and accident, control and chance.