Extended Order (Ordre dispersé) from the portfolio Pencil on Shell 1971

Editor: Here we have Pierre Alechinsky’s 1971 lithograph, “Extended Order (Ordre dispersé) from the portfolio Pencil on Shell.” I find it has an energy and spontaneity to it, almost like doodles in a sketchbook, but with surprising color choices. What is your take on it? Curator: The apparent spontaneity is precisely what is constructed through calculated gesture and line. Note how Alechinsky has created visual tension through a balance of positive and negative space. The meandering lines are counterweighted by fields of colour. Consider the tension, the structural interplay of line, form, and the negative space—that ground is not merely background; it's activated. Editor: Activated? How so? Curator: Notice how the lines seem to both define shapes and dissolve them, creating an ambiguity of figure and ground. It invites the viewer to participate in the act of perception, continually re-evaluating what they are seeing. Editor: So, it's less about what is represented and more about the act of seeing itself? Curator: Precisely. Think of this lithograph not as a window onto a world, but as a carefully orchestrated field of visual events. The colour too reinforces this - areas are defined and broken down again through blocks of contrasting colour. The eye never rests. Editor: I see. It's a dynamic interplay of form and space, and that becomes the subject, more so than any representational image. I appreciate the balance between color and space in this one. Thank you for pointing this out to me! Curator: A close inspection rewards the patient viewer. Form speaks to space and they coexist on the same picture plane. Always look closely at the building blocks of art: colour, composition and medium.