Amenite 1959

Jean Dubuffet made this lithograph, Amenite, in 1959. It's a field of tiny splatters and spots. Mostly cool grays and browns, with little pops of white, like someone took a brush and just flicked it at the paper over and over. Up close, you can see the texture in each mark. Some are darker, denser, like a little pebble of color. Others are lighter, more transparent, like mist. The way they overlap creates depth, a sense of looking into something infinite. I love how Dubuffet embraces the accidental, the unplanned. It's like he's saying, "Here's the raw stuff of the world, the messy, imperfect beauty of it all." It reminds me a little of Cy Twombly, but with a more grounded, earthy feel. Where Twombly is all swooshing lines and grand gestures, Dubuffet is more about the humble, the everyday. He shows us that even the smallest mark can hold a universe of feeling.