émigration forcée 2020

"Émigration forcée" which roughly translates to "Forced Emigration", is a painting made by Cricorps, in what looks like acrylic or gouache. The shapes are simplified, and the colors, while intense, are limited. What strikes me is the tension between the flat blocks of color and the gravity of the subject, it feels like a processing of a complex emotion, bit by bit. The surface has this chalky matte finish. In the bottom left corner, the blue paint is almost like a wash, so thin it’s barely there, but it's held in place by the thick, black outlines. That contrast is so important, it’s like how we make sense of things, we have to feel the dark in order to see the light. These figures, outlined in thick black, look like they are walking away from the buildings fractured in the background. I can almost see echoes of Picasso’s blue period in the child’s face. It is as if art is an echo chamber, with us all listening and responding to each other, as we try to make sense of the world.