Cronos 8 1982

Rene Duvillier made this piece, Cronos 8, with loose brushstrokes of diluted pigment. It's got that 'hands-on' feeling that I love. The peachy hues and runny marks give the work a soft, airy quality, like a watercolor experiment gone wild. The color bleeds and blossoms across the surface, revealing a process of layering and chance encounters between pigment and ground. Look at the upper right corner where Duvillier painted a concentrated flurry of vermillion gestures, a chaotic series of marks. It gives the impression of a kind of energy, and I'm drawn to the tension between the controlled execution and the unpredictable nature of the medium itself. This piece reminds me a little of Helen Frankenthaler’s soak-stain paintings. Like Frankenthaler, Duvillier invites the canvas to participate in the act of creation, allowing the material qualities of paint and surface to dictate the final form. For me, it's a beautiful reminder that art is as much about the journey as it is about the destination.