Stationnetje olie op doek 

Curator: This vibrantly colored piece is titled "Stationnetje," an oil on canvas attributed to Auguste Herbin. Editor: It hits you with an almost frenetic energy. The thick, directional brushstrokes practically vibrate, creating a real sense of movement and excitement. It's playful, even childlike in its execution. Curator: I agree about the energy. Given the Expressionistic and Fauvist tendencies that are observed in it, Herbin uses those loaded materials to depict a cityscape. Observe how he renders forms—the implied architecture, vegetation—with what looks like pure, unmodulated color, and then applied with this almost furious layering. It asks the question what’s at stake in artistic labor. Editor: It is not the visual symbolism but a bold move towards abstraction that I think takes precedent. Though it could be said that certain color pairings take influence, perhaps unwittingly, in a traditional palette, he's more concerned with color and brushstroke, that visceral connection between the hand and the canvas. What kind of commentary can we make about the traditional idea of labor and art? It almost breaks down the structures completely, but you have a valid point regarding material labor here. Curator: Perhaps, or maybe he is critiquing those visual cues. The lack of blending, the sheer quantity of paint—these are material choices that deliberately challenge conventional modes of art production and even the value judgments assigned to it. Consider the potential social commentary of depicting everyday subjects – like, perhaps, a little station as indicated by its title –with such seemingly radical, potentially confrontational brushwork. Does this impact production or how he makes the artwork? Is this an allegory that can shift production? Editor: The more I consider, there's an interesting dichotomy: raw, immediate emotions are there, and a deep understanding that shifts that idea of traditional expression to almost a folk ideal in visual rhetoric. Curator: Absolutely. It's a testament to how even a seemingly simple medium like oil paint can carry the weight of both individual expression and collective commentary. The raw emotion transforms itself! Editor: Agreed, Auguste's choices certainly provoke questions about materials, social structures and their power, while simultaneously tapping into something quite primal within the realm of imagery.