Painter whose works are used on a great many album covers. Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew' and 'Live-Evil', Santana's 'Abraxas', Eric Dolphy's 'Iron Man', Earth, Wind & Fire's 'Last Days and Time', The Last Poets' 'This Is Madness', Jon Hassell's 'Fourth World', Per Tjernberg's 'Universal Riddim', and many more.
Klarwein was born in Hamburg, Germany. His family was of Jewish origin and fled to Palestine when he was two years old after the rise of Nazi Germany. Klarwein grew up in Palestine but in 1948 when the territory became Israel, his family traveled to Paris. There Mati studied with Fernand Leger, after attending the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Klarwein traveled south to Saint-Tropez and met Ernst Fuchs, who would have a profound influence on him. Leaving France in the 1950s, Klarwein traveled widely and lived in many different countries, including Tibet, India, Bali, North Africa, Turkey, Europe and the Americas. He eventually settled in New York City in the early 1960s.
Much of Klarwein’s most famous work is inspired by surrealism and pop culture, but also reflects his interest in non-Western deities, psychedelic, symbolism, and landscapes.
Klarwein added “Abdul” (which means “servant” in Arabic) to his name in the late 1950s to express his sentiments about the hostility between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East. As a result, on some releases his name appears Abdul Mati.
Klarwein is still best known for his art of the 1960s and 1970s, with its clear links to surrealism. He died of cancer on March 7th, 2002 in Deià, on the island of Majorca, Spain.
