Double Head 1963

Victor Brauner made this curious print, Double Head, sometime in the 1960s. It's like he's taken two profiles and stacked them one on top of the other, with one head staring out at us with a big eye and the other reflecting a cartoonish echo. I can imagine Brauner in his studio, playing with shapes, letting his subconscious guide his hand. The surface looks smooth, and the colors are muted. The print has a graphic quality that makes me think of Picasso's simplified forms, or maybe even some ancient artifacts. What I find most compelling here is how Brauner manages to convey a sense of depth and emotion with so few elements. As painters, we are constantly in conversation with the past, with each other. Each brushstroke, each color choice is an echo of the artists who came before, reinterpreted through our own experiences. Painting is ambiguous and it is precisely this ambiguity that allows for multiple readings.