L'HORREUR 1989

René Marcil made 'L'HORREUR' with paint on paper. There's this rawness, this immediacy to the marks. I can almost feel Marcil’s hand moving, maybe even shaking. It’s a visceral thing. The greens and blacks create this almost suffocating backdrop to the stark white face. I imagine the artist pacing, stopping, and then BAM, a stroke of black, a dab of red for the tear. I wonder what horrors were swimming around in Marcil's head when he made this? The cross-hatching over the face, those wide, haunted eyes. It's not just a portrait, it's a scream. It reminds me of some of the expressionists, like Kirchner or Heckel. The way they twisted the human form to convey inner turmoil. What do you think? Is Marcil in conversation with them, or with something else entirely? That’s the thing about paintings, especially like this one, they keep talking back to us, long after the artist has gone silent.