Empreintes de mains 1961

Bernard Aubertin made this work – ‘Empreintes de mains’ – by directly imprinting his hands onto the surface. It’s a landscape of hands, or maybe of marks *like* hands. I imagine Aubertin really going for it, pressing down hard, maybe even a bit frantic? There’s a physical intensity here; a bodily, full-contact approach which makes me think about Yves Klein, who also used bodies as brushes. The monochromatic palette gives it a serious, almost severe mood. Each print is unique: some dark and solid, others broken and fragmented. This work reminds me how painting is never really finished, it’s a constant process of layering, obscuring, and revealing. Artists are always responding to each other, borrowing, stealing, and transforming ideas across time. Painting, in its purest form, is a conversation. It’s messy, intuitive, and full of surprises. It’s about embracing uncertainty and allowing for multiple readings.