Repriseuse de chaussette (Darner of Socks) 1945

Jean Dubuffet made this piece, Darner of Socks, with oil paint, creating a heavily textured surface. I love how the earthy palette and crude execution give it such a raw, immediate feel. Looking closely, you can almost feel the grit and heft of the materials Dubuffet used. The paint is built up in thick, sculptural layers, like a relief map of some strange, unknown land. Notice how the white outline doesn't perfectly align with the dark form it defines? That slight awkwardness gives the figure a kind of off-kilter charm, like it's been cobbled together from scraps and memories. Dubuffet reminds me of Guston, in that both artists challenge the conventions of good taste, embracing a kind of deliberate clumsiness in their work. Ultimately, it's this willingness to be ungainly, to embrace the rough edges of experience, that makes their art so compelling and, dare I say, beautiful.