Obscure communication 1959

Jean Dubuffet made this print, “Obscure communication,” with a muted palette and a surface that seems to have been built up through layers. You can almost feel the artist pushing and pulling, adding and subtracting, to arrive at this final, elusive image. I imagine Dubuffet in his studio, wrestling with the materials, letting the process guide him. What was he trying to "obscure" or "communicate"? It’s as if the act of making the work is a form of thinking. He’s creating a space where meaning is not fixed but always shifting. The marks, the scratches, the blotches, they all contribute to this sense of something emerging, but never quite fully revealed. It reminds me of other artists who embrace the raw and the imperfect. Think Cy Twombly, with his scribbled lines and messy surfaces. It makes me think about the ongoing conversation between artists, across time, inspiring each other to push the boundaries of what painting can be. Ultimately, Dubuffet’s print invites us to embrace ambiguity, to find beauty in the uncertain, and to recognize that meaning is often found in the process, not just the final product.