Mannequinerie en solde 1978

Jean Helion's "Mannequinerie en solde" is a real head-scratcher, full of quirky characters and odd objects rendered in a palette of muted oranges, grays, and blues. I can imagine him at work—laying down these flat planes of color, maybe mixing the paint right on the canvas, figuring it out as he goes along. There's something about the way those figures are posed that makes you think, "What's going on here?" Are they mannequins? Are they alive? And what's with those skulls on the table? The painting almost feels like a stage set, with the figures acting out some strange, surreal drama. Maybe Helion was thinking about the theater of the everyday, the way we all perform roles in our lives. It reminds me of some of Léger’s work. Like other painters, Helion is speaking to us across time, inspiring a whole new generation of artists to keep pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings.