The vortex 1963

Christo Coetzee made this painting, The Vortex, and right away you can see he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, or his brushes! The paint has a real material presence, and there’s a definite contrast between the flat darkness surrounding the central image, and the explosion of texture and color within it. Look at how the white paint almost oozes and clots in places. The lines are scratched and blurred, creating this powerful sense of depth, like a drain or a portal. You get the sense of an artist wrestling with his materials. The whole thing feels really immediate and raw. Maybe Coetzee was looking at some of Miro’s Surrealist works, you can see a similar interest in biomorphic shapes and bold lines. But Coetzee takes it further, embracing the messiness of painting as a way to explore the unknown. It’s like he’s saying, “I don’t have all the answers, but I’m willing to dive in and see what I can find.”