Elles 2002

Francois Arnal made this untitled painting – called ‘Elles’ - with lots of drippy paint and loose gestures. I imagine Arnal working quickly, adding and subtracting layers, maybe turning the canvas as he goes. The colours are kinda muted – reds, greens, blues and blacks floating on a pale ground. There’s something playful about it, but also a little melancholic, I think. I feel like the painting is made up of independent marks, each with its own character and energy. Like the squiggly red line that stretches across the canvas or those vertical red brushstrokes, thick at the top, fading down the surface. They remind me of Agnes Martin's grids, but looser, messier. Arnal’s work reminds us that painting is a conversation, artists answering each other across generations, finding new ways to express themselves with this very physical medium. Paintings invite us to be open to possibilities, to find our own meaning in the gestures and colours.