Earlier in the week when we did the the Bitches Brew Remix drop we specifically downplayed the original artwork creator in order to set this feature up? Miles Davis’ – Bitches Brew, the underdog avante garde jazz production, that was hated on straight out of the gate. It gave birth to a new genre of jazz. That new genre gave birth to a new era that is still being deciphered to this day. That being said, keep in mind that the mystique and allure might not have been possible without the semi psychedelic visuals that wrapped the original gatefold vinyl jacket.
Abdul Mati Klarwein is without a doubt one of the most famous artist that you never heard of. Even though he was wicked with the paint brush from an early age, no one took notice until Carlos Santana chose his work for the cover of the LP Abraxas (1970). Most likely it was the daylight bright cerebral colors, intricate landscapes and symbolically populated scenes that conveyed the process basking in the natural elements and sensory energy that seduced that phase of the psychedelic generation.
Annunciation (1961) was an original painting when Santana first caught wind of it. So original that it was almost never used for the Abraxas project. After that it was a wrap. Klarwein’s next big client was the one and only Miles Davis. The project was Bitches Brew (1969) and the follow up Live-Evil (1971). Then came the portrait of Jimi Hendrix, and after that Klarwein was flying high. He ran through social circles of the creative elite with the likes of Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol, tripping the light fantastic and at the same time tripping his balls off.
Miles Davis – Live Evil (Bitches Brew Live)
The Chambers Bros – New Generation Malcolm X – By Any Means Necessary
“I like to play with perspectives. I don’t like to make them obvious, like with vanishing points. That’s why my paintings are always on flat surfaces—because I like to create a tension between the flatness of the surface and the illusion of perspective. So if you look at this flat surface you see an abstract painting. But if you keep looking at it, then a reality comes out, and that’s how I work these paintings. I start them off as an abstract design, and then I create a story, something like life on the mountain or whatever. Then I see to it that there’s always a texture.” Mati Klarwein
Reuben Wilson – Blue Mode / 1969
Eric Dolphy – Iron Man / 1963
Buddy Miles – A Message to the People / 1971
via WIKIPEDIA
Much of Klarwein’s most famous work is inspired by surrealism and pop culture, but also reflects his interest in non-Western deities, symbolism, and landscapes. The alleged connection between Klarwein and the so-called psychedelic art of the period is not entirely unfounded, as he has detailed his experience with LSD in his 1988 book Collected Works; however, Klarwein also explains that drugs were never his prime inspirational source, and in one interview, denies their influence entirely. His extensive travels and wide interests (notwithstanding the fact that his style had fully developed before the “psychedelic era”) are further support of his claims. Klarwein claims that his friend Timothy Leary once told him, based on the character of his paintings, that Klarwein “didn’t need psychedelics.”
Gregg Allman (of the Allman Brothers) – Laid Back / 1971
The Last Poets – This is Madness / 1971
Earth, Wind and Fire – Last Days in Time / 1972
Classic album art and famous portraits aside, Abdul Mati Klarwein is till best known for his art of the 1960s and 1970s, with its clear links to surrealism, (Klarwein studied with and the Viennese Fantastic RealistErnst Fuchs), popular psychedelic imagery, and religious art from a number of different traditions. He also worked more conventionally across a variety of genres including still life and landscape.
Collections: Andy Warhol said that Mati Klarwein was his favorite painter. His pieces have turned up in the collections of President John Kennedy, The Heinz Family (the ketchup), Leonard Bernstein, Baron Edmond De Rothschild, Brigitte Bardot, Michael Douglas and countless others.
Publications: “Milk n’ honey”; “God Jokes: The Art of Abdul Mati Klarwein”, “Inscapes Real-Estate Paintings”, “Mati Klarwein: Improved paintings”, “Mati Klarwein: Collected Works 1959-1975”, “Mati Klarwein: a Thousand Windows”
To see more definitely check out The Life & Art of Abdul Mati Klarwein. And if you don’t. You FAIL.
Abdul Mati Klarwein: self portrait
DADE WEAR