L'Arnaque (The Swindle) 1962

Jean Dubuffet made "The Swindle" in 1962 with a loaded brush, using thick, troweled strokes of pink, crimson, lavender, and baby blue. I can imagine him smearing the paint across the canvas, building up a topography of textures, scraping back, adding more, letting the painting guide him. You can almost feel his hand moving quickly, trying to capture the frenetic energy of the street, the grit, the feeling of being bombarded by signs and faces. There’s a kind of raw, unrefined quality to the work that I really appreciate. It’s like he’s bypassing the intellect and going straight for the gut. The figures are cartoonish and grotesque, but they have a kind of humanity too. Like clowns in a parade, or figures from a child's nightmare. Dubuffet was interested in art brut—raw art made outside the bounds of the art world. He's in dialogue with artists like Klee and Picasso, but also with anyone who ever picked up a crayon. It's this messy, joyous exchange that keeps art alive, don't you think?