Cronos 31 1982

Rene Duvillier made *Cronos 31* with what looks like thinned oil paint or maybe even inks – you can almost see the liquid still moving. The paint here feels poured and manipulated, dragged, and coaxed across the surface. See that concentrated spiral of pigment, like a reddish eye staring back at you? It’s surrounded by these delicate, nervous trails, little scribbles as if the artist was testing the consistency of their materials, or maybe just thinking out loud with their wrist. I love how the paint stains the canvas, creating these soft, blurry edges. It reminds me a bit of Helen Frankenthaler’s soak-stain paintings, where the color becomes one with the weave of the fabric. But there's also something about the palette – the warmth of those fleshy oranges and pinks – that hints at Philip Guston's late work. It’s like Duvillier is having a conversation with both of them, pulling from their ideas but making something entirely his own. Art is all about that dialogue.