Façades d'immeubles (Building Façades) 1946

Jean Dubuffet built up Façades d'immeubles with thick oil paint, layering light linear marks over a dark surface. I can imagine Dubuffet working on this, attacking the canvas, and then, perhaps, stepping back, editing, adding little touches like the small heads in the windows. It reminds me of Cy Twombly and his frenetic, scrawled surfaces, but with a cartoonish twist, like Philip Guston. The white lines scratch into the surface, almost childlike in their simplicity. I wonder, was Dubuffet trying to channel the raw energy of outsider art? There’s a real freedom to the marks, an immediacy that suggests he wasn’t afraid to make mistakes, to let the painting evolve through a process of trial and error. It's all part of an ongoing conversation between artists, each pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. And it’s these kinds of paintings that remind us that art isn't about perfection, but about embracing the messy, uncertain process of bringing something new into the world.