Repriseuse de chaussette (Darner of Socks) 1945

Jean Dubuffet’s painting, Darner of Socks, is built up from thick, troweled marks in muddy greens and browns. It's like he was wrestling with the goo, trying to find this figure. I feel such kinship with Dubuffet. He must have been thinking about the textures of the everyday, the overlooked and unglamorous. Look closely, and you’ll see the creamy white outlines, like he’s trapped the figure within a crusty shell. Maybe it's about the artist's own labor? The darning could stand in for his own process, mending and making new from old. There’s an honesty to his work, a rejection of the slick and polished. It's a reminder that art can be found anywhere, in the simplest of acts, the humblest of materials. And that makes me want to run back to my studio, pick up a brush, and get my hands dirty.