Quelques Sphinx 2016

Benoit Maire made these two paintings, "Quelques Sphinx," and you can see how the artist has layered washes of paint, one over the other. This process looks like it involves experimenting with ways to generate form, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with the artist and imagine what it might have been like to create them. The muted palette creates a calm, meditative atmosphere. The paint seems thinned, flowing almost like watercolor, creating a luminous quality. The dark masses act as focal points. It looks like the artist created two abstract forms that could be anything—shadows, maybe, or clouds. The artist is in conversation with other artists. I think of Helen Frankenthaler, and how her soak-stain technique influenced other abstract expressionists. Artists are always in an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression that embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.