Rhesus Factor (Facteur Rhésus) 1967

Pierre Alechinsky made this print, Rhesus Factor, using lithography, and you can really see the process in the finished piece. The central image is all bold, splattery red on black, a primal scream of color. Around it, there's this frame of little doodles, like a sketchbook page exploded, which gives it a playful edge. It reminds me that art is just another way of thinking and experimenting, a kind of conversation with yourself. Look at the way the red bleeds into the black, it’s so immediate and visceral. This feels like Alechinsky just went for it, letting the ink do its thing, embracing the accidents. That kind of energy is what I look for in art, that sense of freedom and not being too precious. You can see echoes of Cobra artists like Asger Jorn here, that shared love of raw expression, or maybe even some early Miro in the playful pictograms around the edge. It’s like they’re all riffing off each other across time.