Virana 1960

Huguette Arthur Bertrand made Virana, an oil on canvas, through intuition and feeling. I see so many black gestures, like a dance, but the composition is a bit mysterious because it's all in motion, nothing is static. The black paint is the most prominent, with many layers of thick and thin, transparent and opaque applications. I love how Bertrand teases out these linear marks within the larger forms. The way she scratches into the wet paint, creating this real sense of depth, and I find myself wondering about her tools. It's like she was searching for something, a way to translate her thoughts into visible form. It reminds me of Franz Kline, or even some of the later work by Soulages, but filtered through a distinctly French sensibility. Ultimately, Virana is about the process of painting itself, the act of searching, finding, and losing one’s way. It's not just about what we see, but how we see it.