“The dramatic sufferings of adults and all the cruel fantasies of those of my own age, who seemed abandoned to their own impulses in the midst of so many catastrophes, appeared to inscribe themselves on the walls around me.." - Antoni Tapies
His works remind me of Cy Twombly. But it seems he was once influenced by Joan Miró and Paul Klee. Then he abandoned these influences to what became his signature style of work - "the heavily built-up surfaces that were often scratched, pitted and gouged and incised with letters, numbers and signs" - William Grimes, New York Times. The critic John Russell said it best and referred to his works that “seemed to have been not so much painted as excavated from an idiosyncratic compound of mud, sand, earth, dried blood and powdered minerals.”
Far from morbid and suffering thoughts (especially for a Monday morning) and as much as a happy person that I am, there is something about Tapies' work that draws me, captivates me and makes me want to discover more of him and his work. What can I say, other than, il est tout ma tasse de thé!
Antoni Tapies, 1923-2012
Images via NYTimes.com & Flickr