Tête en spirale 

Yves Laloy painted ‘Tête en spirale’ using oil on cardboard. The canvas is dominated by a stylized face, its stark white plane framed by a dark, almost gothic arch of hair, suggesting a mask. The spiral in place of an eye immediately draws our attention, destabilizing traditional portraiture. It's rendered in a rusty red that contrasts with the white, drawing us into its vortex-like pull. Note how the opposite eye is replaced by the image of a fish. Laloy is using a semiotic system, challenging fixed meanings by using the eye as a signifier. The artist plays with the simplification of form here, hinting at surrealist ideas about the subconscious. Laloy uses basic shapes—dots for nostrils, a curved line for the mouth—reducing the face to its most fundamental elements. This flattening and abstraction, while simple, questions what it means to represent identity. The simplicity asks us to see beyond the surface, diving into the complexities beneath.