Vicissitudes 1977

Curator: Jean Dubuffet's "Vicissitudes," a large-scale work in the Tate collection, immediately strikes me as bold in its materiality. The scale is impressive—over two meters high and three wide. Editor: I find it chaotic, almost aggressively so. The sheer density of figures and shapes feels like a visual representation of social unrest, of the constant push and pull of different forces. Curator: Absolutely. Dubuffet’s focus was on challenging traditional art materials. In “Vicissitudes,” he's really pushing the possibilities of paint, questioning the very nature of art making. What is fine art and what is simply craft? Editor: And who gets to decide? Dubuffet's work, and this piece in particular, opens up a crucial dialogue on the politics of representation and the power dynamics inherent in artistic creation. It is anything but innocuous. Curator: It's a challenging piece, undoubtedly, and one that prompts us to reconsider the relationship between form, function, and social critique. Editor: Indeed. It's a mirror reflecting the complexities and contradictions of our world, a world Dubuffet clearly saw as far from harmonious.