Sirènes des rois 1988

Jean-Paul Jerome made this painting, "Sirènes des rois", using cool blues and blacks to depict a scene with simplified shapes. What I really appreciate about Jerome's paintings is the process he uses, the way that different colours sit next to each other with such clarity. You can see how the layers and colours interact, how they are a part of the whole, like different parts of a song that you can't separate from each other. I enjoy the way these shapes create such a clear vision of something that doesn't exist in reality. Look at the middle of the largest circle, where you see the small black dot, the pupil. How is it that from one little dot, everything else spreads and radiates? It's like that moment when you're standing in front of a painting, and suddenly everything clicks. That little dot contains the key to the whole work. There's something about Jerome's approach that reminds me of Mondrian, a clarity of vision that manages to create complex relationships with such minimal forms. It’s a testament to how much can be communicated with so little. Art is about ambiguity, not fixed meanings.