Hibou-Circus I

Thick ridges of black, white, red, and green pile across this canvas like a storm caught mid-motion. Jean-Paul Riopelle painted "Hibou-Circus I" in 1973, and rather than showing one clear scene, it draws your eye into a dense tangle of paint where colors seem to fight and dance at the same time. The title mixes two ideas, an owl ("hibou" in French) and a circus, which suits the restless, whirling feel of the whole thing.

Born in Quebec, Riopelle grew into one of Canada's most celebrated painters. As a young man he put his name to a fiery manifesto called Refus Global, a call for total freedom in art and life, and that rebellious streak runs right through this work. He often set the brush aside and worked with a palette knife instead, dragging and stacking the paint into rough peaks that stand out from the surface. The effect is almost sculptural, as if the color has hardened in the middle of a wave.

Stare at it for a while and shapes seem to surface and vanish, the same way faces appear in clouds. That was very much Riopelle's intention. He never wanted to hand you a single answer. He offered texture, color, and energy, then trusted your own imagination to fill in the rest.