Nouchi Child in Blue 2021

Aboudia made this painting called Nouchi Child in Blue with paint, crayon and collage. I imagine Aboudia in the studio, pushing the paint around, sticking bits of paper down, layering and layering. There is a real push-pull here – between the flat bright blue background, the anatomical diagrams, and the red and blue crayon marks which make up the face. I love the way that the collage elements are both background and foreground. They remind me of Cy Twombly, or maybe Jean-Michel Basquiat. I wonder what he was thinking about as he made those scribbled crayon marks. I feel his urgency, his hand moving quickly, instinctively – trying to make sense of all the images and ideas jostling around. It feels like a very personal and emotional response to his world. It's all about trying to get the feeling down, and then the image comes later.