A Wind of Madness (Un vent de folie) 1963

Curator: Oh, this one bubbles with mischief. It's called "A Wind of Madness," a 1963 print by Pierre Alechinsky. There's a real sense of liberation in it, don't you think? Editor: Liberation, certainly, or maybe an unleashing! The green background gives it a kind of sickly, fertile energy, like a petri dish culture teeming with little beasties. Curator: Beasties is a good word for it. Look closer. He's populated it with strange, almost cartoonish figures, some contained in frames, others floating freely. Alechinsky was fascinated by automatism—allowing the hand to move freely and intuitively. You see echoes of Surrealism here. Editor: Precisely. It's like a visual stream of consciousness, full of subconscious symbolism bubbling up. Those figures remind me of ancient cave paintings or even children's doodles – raw, unfiltered expressions of the psyche. Is it linocut? Curator: Yes, a linocut print using ink. The looseness of the medium perfectly suits the frantic energy. I feel like the ‘madness’ he speaks of isn't necessarily negative; it's the energy of pure, unfettered creativity. I like that this madness isn't dark, per se. More silly? Editor: Definitely not dark in tone, I concur. The figures, however absurd and whimsical, tap into something primordial. Those repeated eye motifs, for instance. They are seeing eyes but perhaps windows into something else – something non-rational, more intuitive? Like an ancient symbol trying to communicate a buried truth, it can feel…uncanny. Curator: Right! And consider the title again "A Wind of Madness". Winds carry seeds, ideas, whispers. He is evoking the powerful force of the subconscious breaking through. It makes one think about the seeds of chaos—but also the seeds of genius. Editor: In this particular context, perhaps it's an invitation to embrace our own inner chaos and find the symbols that speak most loudly to us. Curator: An act of unearthing through play! How beautiful and very freeing to do. Well, I know I have a new lens for madness! Editor: Absolutely, a whirlwind tour through the chaotic landscapes of the mind, elegantly captured.