100 (K)lines or Lines for Kline 

The real thing about creating is to have the capacity to be embarrassed. 

_ Franz Kline 

I am an avid walker — could be in the nature or in the city, could be a short walk for ten minutes or a hike for 10K, could be early in the morning or late in the night. But, always, it has to be alone, often with my head down mapping the ground right in front of me while thinking about all sort of things. 

Very recently, I have been taking mental photographs of some tar-filled crack lines on asphalt. Somehow, the visual compositions in these cropped frames were reminding of Franz Kline’s daring black brushstrokes — think of Abstract Expressionism on Toronto streetscape instead of Kline’s large canvases of the 40s in New York. Over time I have marked a collection of my favourites, until on an overcast day, when I could guarantee a more or less constant light quality, I documented one hundred of them. 

This collection is an homage to Franz Kline, as he was with me on this walk. _ RZLBD

Medium: digital photographs 

Fall 2020, Toronto 

© Atelier RZLBD / Reza Aliabadi / 2020, Toronto, Canada