Hibou-Circus II

Buried somewhere in this thicket of paint is an owl, or at least the idea of one. Jean-Paul Riopelle, a painter from Quebec, made "Hibou-Circus II" in 1973 as part of a series built around the French word for owl, "hibou." Rather than picking up a brush, he worked the paint with a palette knife, spreading it in thick slabs and then dragging through it, leaving ridges and grooves that catch the light like a rugged landscape.

The colors fight for space across the whole surface. Silvery grays and deep greens dominate, broken up by flashes of red and yellow that flicker through the tangle like embers. Riopelle came up through Les Automatistes, a group of Quebec artists who trusted instinct over careful planning and painted whatever their hands felt like doing. That restless, unplanned spirit runs all through this piece, and even if the owl never quite comes into focus for you, the sheer physical energy of the paint carries its own reward.