Assaba 1983

Editor: We're looking at Maurice Esteve's "Assaba," an oil painting from 1983. I’m immediately drawn to how the blocks of colour seem to suggest a landscape, but one that’s been fragmented and reassembled. How do you read this piece? Curator: It's fascinating how you immediately connect to the suggestion of landscape. Considering its place within the abstract expressionist movement, what Esteve might be engaging with is not just the landscape itself, but also the *idea* of landscape and how that concept has been used and presented throughout art history, especially in relationship to colonialism in the Maghreb. What sociopolitical message is Estève communicating by rendering the Assaba region as an abstraction? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn’t considered a political dimension, particularly colonialism. So, rather than depicting a literal place, he’s commenting on representation and power structures inherent in landscape painting? Curator: Precisely. Think about the history of European artists painting "exotic" landscapes during the colonial era. By abstracting "Assaba," Esteve disrupts that tradition, refusing to offer a picturesque or easily consumable image. How do you see the bright palette factoring into that deconstruction? Editor: The bright colours almost feel deliberately… unnatural? It's like he's refusing to create a romanticized version. They force you to confront the artifice of the image. Curator: Exactly. This moves the artwork beyond mere decoration into a space of critique. It makes us ask: Who controls the visual narrative? And how does abstraction become a tool of resistance? Editor: Wow, I definitely see this painting in a whole new light now! I hadn’t initially thought about the underlying socio-political statement. Curator: It highlights how even abstract forms can carry potent cultural weight. Thanks for sharing your perceptive reflections.