La Louisiane 1949

Francois Arnal made *La Louisiane* using oil on cardboard, and right away, I’m struck by the way he builds up these distinct zones, each with its own kind of mark-making. You can really see Arnal thinking through process itself. There’s a very physical quality to the paint here. The top section has this almost sandy, scumbled texture, like he was dragging the paint across the surface, while the blue section is more fluid, with these delicate white lines scratched into it. Then, there’s the ochre section with that big, bold black arrow motif. It’s like he's layering different moods and gestures on top of each other, each color and shape vibrating against the next. Arnal reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly, maybe because of their shared love of cryptic mark-making and this feeling that the painting is a kind of coded message. And like Twombly, Arnal embraces ambiguity, inviting us to make our own connections and find our own way through the painting.