Non aux viols 2020

This painting by Aboudia has an urgent, visceral energy. It looks as though it was made yesterday, maybe even this morning! The marks are raw, the colors thrown down with a kind of joyous abandon. It reminds me that artmaking is as much about the process as the outcome. What strikes me most is the tension between figuration and abstraction. These figures, rendered with bold, almost childlike strokes, seem to emerge from a chaotic ground of blues and browns. Look at the face on the right, the way the eyes are just these big, red-rimmed circles, and the mouth is reduced to a series of downward-pointing spikes. There's a rawness here, an immediacy that I find incredibly compelling. Aboudia’s paintings recall artists like Basquiat, who similarly blended street art with a fine art sensibility. But Aboudia’s work is uniquely his own, a powerful expression of life. It's a reminder that art doesn't have to be polite or polished. It can be messy, loud, and full of feeling.