Silence au sol 1959

Jean Dubuffet made this piece, Silence au sol, and it looks like he was exploring mark-making as a process, kind of like doodling but with intention. Up close, the texture is intriguing; a field of tiny, repeated gestures creating a uniform surface. There’s an all-overness to it. It reminds me of Agnes Martin’s grids, but dirtier, rougher. It's a field of tans and browns, close in value but varied enough to create a sense of depth, like you could lose yourself in it. Looking at it makes me think about the physicality of the medium he was working with, whatever it was. I imagine him, the action of his hand, the pressure applied to the surface. It’s almost meditative, this repetition, this grounding. Dubuffet was obsessed with what he called "art brut" – raw art – and that feels relevant here. Think Cy Twombly and his scribbles. These artists share a sense of immediacy, of making art that feels like it comes directly from the gut. Ambiguity over meaning, always.