Brouclé 1973

Maurice Esteve made this painting with what looks like oils, and a lot of hard-edged shapes, kind of puzzle-like. The colors are bright but also a bit muted, like faded posters. It feels like he’s pushing and pulling space, making a world that's both flat and deep at the same time. I love how the colors bump up against each other, creating this weird tension, especially where that purple diamond shape hovers, like it’s about to float off the canvas. The paint is applied smoothly, almost like he was trying to hide the brushstrokes. It reminds me a bit of Stuart Davis, that jazzy, syncopated rhythm. But Esteve has his own thing going on, a quieter, more internal kind of music. Art is this ongoing conversation, right? Artists riffing off each other, but always finding their own voice in the mix. I never want to pin a painting down too much, you know? It's more fun to let it breathe, to see where it takes you.