Le Journaliste 1993

This is Erro's "Le Journaliste," and it’s a wild mix of pop and politics, painted sometime in the last century, I'm guessing. There’s a real immediacy to Erro’s work, a kind of bold, graphic punch. Look at how he uses those hard black outlines, almost like a comic strip, but the way he fills them in is more painterly, more like a dye. You get the sense of a process that’s both planned and spontaneous. The colors are saturated, but there’s also this flatter, almost matte quality to the surface. I love the way he juxtaposes the solid blue on the right with the chaotic energy of the figures on the left. That simple division creates a tension, a sense of two worlds colliding. Notice the way the journalist is framed against the blue, holding the magazine, as if he’s both inside and outside the narrative. It's a total head trip. Erro reminds me of a less anxious Sigmar Polke in his use of appropriation and cartoonish style. Both artists remind us that art is never truly original.