Urbanus VI 1999

Iseult Labote’s painting, Urbanus VI, is, well, it's like a cosmic construction site, but with a storefront shutter's elegance. It’s built from layers of cool grays and warm metallic yellows and golds, all structured in a tight, rhythmic order. I wonder what it was like to create this? I imagine Labote, brush in hand, caught in a dance between control and chance. Each rectangle, a deliberate act, a meditation on form, and then the gorgeous, gentle yellow, seeping through the grays like hope in the urban landscape. The paint looks thin and smooth, laid down with care. There is an attention to the painted surface and the materiality of the paint. It is almost as if she builds and excavates the painting at once. This reminds me of a lot of the early modernists who were likewise fascinated by the city and all its visual complexity. I see her work as part of a larger conversation, across time, about how we see and shape our world. I find it touching to think about the ways in which Labote lets the painting express itself, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty.