l’arbre et la vie 2022

Carlos Sablòn made ‘l’arbre et la vie’ with paint on canvas; imagine the artist building up the image, shifting and changing the composition, maybe even by chance. The tree’s delicate branches stretch across a cloudy sky, where the sky blue is a thin veil of diluted color. I wonder, was Sablòn thinking about life cycles? Is the bare tree about vulnerability, a kind of winter scene? Or is it about potential growth and renewal? I keep thinking about those three little birds dotted amongst the branches. They are a lovely detail. I bet that the artist painted them last. Each stroke is placed to add life and movement. It is a lovely way to see a painting grow. In a funny way, making paintings is a bit like a tree growing. Artists often work in response to each other across time, and each painting is like a new branch reaching towards the sky.