Le corps que j'ai dans la tête 1970

Jacques Hérold made "Le corps que j'ai dans la tête" using oil on canvas, a marriage of traditional materials with surrealist visions. The layering of oil paint gives the work its depth, building up textures that almost seem to grow organically on the canvas. You can see how Hérold applied the paint in such a way that it suggests the forms are not just depicted, but emerging, like strange flora in a dreamscape. The brushstrokes, though deliberate, mimic the unpredictable nature of growth and decay. Hérold was self-taught, and was unconcerned with the traditional skill-sets or accepted values of the art establishment. The lack of academic finish allowed him to be free and uninhibited. He made these paintings quickly, and his surrealist convictions meant he valued the unconscious gesture far above careful compositional strategies. By embracing spontaneity and organic forms, Hérold challenges the viewer to reconsider the boundaries between the conscious and unconscious, the natural and the artificial, and ultimately, craft and fine art.