Untitled 1949

Gaston Chaissac made this untitled painting with paint, you can tell from the thick application, and a clear love for the colour red. The painting has such a directness, doesn’t it? The colours are laid down flatly and are so vibrant, particularly that saturated red! There’s a real confidence to how the artist uses line to define his figures, it's both playful and assured. Notice how the shapes are simplified, but still full of character. Look at the way the figure's eye is rendered, a simple circle with a dot, yet it conveys so much expression. Chaissac, like Dubuffet, really celebrated the art of the untrained. It's like he's saying, "Hey, art doesn't have to be this stuffy thing. It can be raw, it can be fun, and it can be made by anyone." And that's something I find really inspiring.