Friday, September 14, 2007

Rejected And Ignored By The Fine Art Establishment


The Art of Abdul Mati Klarwein


Klarwein is probably best know as the painter who created the album cover art for Santana’s Abraxas, and for the album that defined fusion jazz, Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, both of which were released in 1970.

Klarwein was a visionary painter who possessed an extremely high level of technical skill. In the second half of the twentieth century, the mainstream of the art world was focused mainly on abstract and/or conceptual art. Because Klarwein’s art happened to be on some album covers, and because he ignored the prevailing trends of modernism, Klarwein was considered by the art establishment to be “just” a commercial artist or psychedelic artist, and was as a result rejected and ignored.

You will probably never see Klarwein’s work in an art history class, and although a few books featuring his work have been published over the years, sadly, they are all out of print.

What does it say about the art world that it was immune to its [Klarewein’s art] clear and present beauty? – musician Jon Hassell


Bellin Family, 1973
(click for close-up)


Laure Klarwein, 1986
(click for close-up)


Soundscape, 1982
(click for close-up)

You will find a link on this page to Klarwein's website, in the section titled "Artists Deserving Wider Recognition".

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

For a more conyemporary artist, who is also known for his album art, check out:
http://www.alexgrey.com

MamaLiz

RJ said...

Alex Grey-- yes! Also rejected and ignored. (BTW-- I already have a direct link to Alex Grey on this website.)

RJ

Anonymous said...

Some of your students may have his Tool CD cover art.
It's probably hard to consider something "fine art" when you keep it in the glove compartment of your car.

RJ said...

To anonymous, regarding art on CD covers--

The work of artists such as Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, René Magritte, M. C. Escher, and Gerhard Richter has appeared on CD/album covers. Does this mean that they are not producers of "fine art"?

What about calendars, coffee mugs and the like featuring the work of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Dali (again), etc.?

The line between "fine art" and "commercial art" is fuzzy at best. There is a lot of area where the two overlap. There is, ultimately, a significant lack of consensus as to what the definition of "art" really is or should be.

Personally, I'll take Mati Klarwein over Damien Hirst any day of the week.

Thank you for your comment, and please feel free to come back at any time. All points of view are welcome here!

RJ

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