La Louisiane 1949

Francois Arnal made 'La Louisiane' with oil paint and mixed media. The piece features dominant blocks of ochre, blue, black, and white separated into horizontal registers. Looking at the surface, I see a mix of intentional marks and serendipitous moments. You can imagine the artist working and reworking the composition, layering and scraping, making decisions through action. I like how Arnal’s got these contrasting textures going on – some areas are smooth, others rough, like he’s building up and then taking away, searching for something just out of reach. There's one particularly expressive black line that curves down through the ochre field, like a wandering thought. I think about Cy Twombly and all those different forms of mark-making that come from a deeply felt, almost intuitive place. Ultimately, 'La Louisiane' reminds me that artists are always responding to each other, building on the past while pushing towards something new. And that painting at its best is an act of discovery, a way of making sense of the world through touch, color, and form.