Chattigraphie 1974

Jean Degottex made this calligraphic painting, Chattigraphie, with ink on paper. I imagine Degottex hovering over the page, brush in hand, conjuring a kind of minimalist poetry. The black ink, thinned down, dances across the surface, leaving behind wispy marks. The shapes are spare and deliberate, like a language half-formed, half-erased. He's playing with the push and pull, between presence and absence, figure and ground. I can almost feel the artist’s breath, the subtle movements of his hand as he creates these forms. Looking at it, I am reminded of Cy Twombly and his scribbled lines. Both artists were after this immediate, unedited form of expression, digging deep into mark-making as a primal act. Painting is like talking to other artists, living and dead; we're all pinging ideas off each other in this big, messy, ongoing conversation. Degottex is inviting us to embrace uncertainty, to find beauty in the unfinished.