The Cicada 1956

Maurice Esteve made this print, *The Cicada*, with lithographic ink on paper – and I can just imagine him inking up his stones, pulling print after print, layering up the colors. The palette is like a mid-century dream: ochre, tomato red, cornflower blue, and a grey that could be cement. The shapes aren’t quite anything, but they feel familiar, like half-remembered things. There's a fat red sausage shape anchoring the top, and this leggy blue form that almost looks like a dancer doing the splits! I think of the artist trying to work out a puzzle – moving forms around, turning the paper upside down, trying error after error until something clicks. It reminds me a bit of Joan Miró's playful vocabulary, but with a sober edge. There's a conversation happening here, between Esteve, Miró, and all the other artists who have ever tried to make sense of the world with shapes and colors.