DuBuffet Paper

Natasha/Himi
10/27/2012
ARTZ106

               The artist Jean DuBuffet was a French painter, sculptor, collector and writer born in Le Havre France of 1901 with the opposition toward authority, and while many patrons enjoy DuBuffet’s stylistic and idealistic embrace of eschewed art that in my own opinion I am not a fan of. I do, however, admire and respect his process of embracing “low art” quality and his way of obscuring the traditional standards of “beauty.”

DuBuffet’s works are created in mostly one simple medium: oil paint, but it’s what he adds to the paint that gives his art something to really feast your eyes on. DuBuffet actually thickens his paints with a variety of additions; such as sand, tar, and straw, giving a very unusual yet welcoming texture and surface to his work which would otherwise make it to be very flat. It wasn’t until 1962 when he actually limited his palette greatly to using only the colours black, white, red, and blue, which in turn provided a very clean and contemporary feel to his work. With limiting his palette like he did, he produced what may be his most well-known artwork titled “Hourloupe cyle,” which in the beginning consisted of merely drawings and paintings. Later on DuBuffet wished to give them greater "corporeality," transforming the flat images into three-dimensional creations, making what he referred to not as painted sculptures  but rather "drawings which extended and expand in space."

I chose DuBuffet simply for the fact that I don’t like his work all that much. I was actually originally going to pick the artist Maria Brunner, because I absolutely adore her use of bold colours, dynamic shadows and rich highlights that mimic the look of different confectionery food wrappers while creating somewhat of a surrealistic dream world where there are no right answers. I felt writing about her would be too easy, though. Writing about Dubuffet, however, would provide me with a challenge, and a challenge I was right. His art really frustrates me, actually. To the point I almost can’t bear to look at it although I’ll stare at it for long periods of time trying to figure out what it’s supposed to be, why he did it that way, why isn’t it this way, and so on. Although I may not be the biggest fan of his work overall, I do like his use of design in them.

The main 2D design elements featured in his work are bold, lines, colour, representational, geometric form and complex patterns. His bold use of colour in blocks the way he does gives a certain eye appeal which is very clean, leading into the geometric forms he uses to make up his representation of a being. His use of line can be seen throughout the entire piece, from the outlines to the patterns inside certain areas. Although his pieces would be considered “simple” I’m not entirely sure that’s a fair assumption. DuBuffet really put a lot of work and effort into his pieces and I believe they work for what he was trying to achieve. Along with his bold use of design and technique, there were some concerns to be expressed, specifically with Existentialism.

               Existentialism provided abstract painters, such as Jean DuBuffet, with a terminology that enabled them to assert the importance of personal expression. This term influences and distorts the idea of perception of objects in a space, as much of DuBuffet’s work resembles this. Much of his work is abstract, some to the point where you’re not entirely sure what it may be, which is the fun in it. Some of the relationship between DuBuffet and his work is quite remarkable, really. From an early age DuBuffet resented any sort of authority, which translated greatly into his art and I respect that. Who are we to tell another being what is and isn’t beautiful? Who are we to say what is good and what isn’t? All that is is opinion, personal taste. Hardly anyone has the same opinion toward a single object, piece of art, type of food, and so forth. So DuBuffet’s rejection of authority should be greatly realized and respected just for the sheer fact that he isn’t listening to anyone but himself. Something that everyone needs to do, no matter what it is they’re doing, whether it be something they’re illustrating, writing, acting out, anything. We’re all different, and the fact DuBuffet embraced his individuality is something of great caliber and courage.

Links used: http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2008/11/jean-dubuffet-at-pace-wildenstein/
                  http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=1633
                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Dubuffet