Table basse 1992

Francois Arnal made this painting, Table basse, with paint on what looks like a smooth, white surface. You can really see the gestures of the artist’s hand in it. I love the way Arnal uses color; the blues, greens, and reds aren’t really blended but sit next to each other like the separate thoughts of your brain, colliding and making something new. You can see the marks where the brush has dragged across the surface, creating a thin, watery texture in some areas, and thicker, more opaque areas in others. Look at the bottom; it's almost as if red fireworks are erupting. Then consider the top, where green and blue fight it out in bold, graphic strokes. It makes you wonder what kind of energy Arnal was channeling when he made this! Arnal’s work reminds me a bit of Joan Miró, in the way he balances playful abstraction with a kind of raw, almost primal energy. It shows how art is always in conversation with itself, echoing and reinventing ideas across time.