Composition 1950

Jean Messagier made this untitled mixed media composition at an unknown date. The process seems front and center in this one. The marks are very present, you get a sense of his hand moving across the surface. It's all about the doing, not just the image. Look at the way he's layered the paint in that upright form on the left, lots of browns and ochres, but it's not trying to trick you into thinking it's a piece of wood, it's paint that is acting like a piece of wood! Then there's that row of blue shapes along the top - are they hanging? Are they balloons? Who knows! It reminds me of work by Forrest Bess, who was another artist that combined abstract forms with a very personal, slightly obscure symbolism. Both artists remind us that painting isn't about answers, it's about the questions.