Rose Gris Raye a la Bande Orange 1996

Olivier Debre made this painting, Rose Gris Raye a la Bande Orange, with paint on canvas. Look at how the color just hangs there, suspended. The paint is thin, almost like watercolor. You can see the weave of the canvas right through it, which makes the colors feel lighter, like they're breathing. There’s something so lovely about how the band of orange on the left just sort of bleeds into the gray. It’s not a clean edge; it’s fuzzy, uncertain. That fuzziness is what gives the painting its life. It's as if the colors are talking to each other. It reminds me a little bit of Helen Frankenthaler's soak-stain paintings, but with a warmer, more human touch. Ultimately, it's about how paintings can just be themselves, soft and open and unresolved.