It Depends on What Direction You Look In

Radiating outward from a fiery core, this 2020 painting by Jules de Balincourt turns the whole sky into a wild burst of light. Thousands of thin streaks in red, pink, and orange shoot in every direction, filling the canvas with movement. Along the bottom edge, small dark figures stand on a stretch of land, tiny witnesses to something enormous happening above them. De Balincourt, a French-born artist based in Brooklyn, is known for these dreamlike images that sit somewhere between the real world and pure imagination.

The title, "It Depends on What Direction You Look In," is really the key to the whole thing. Is that a fireworks display lighting up a night of celebration, or an explosion signaling disaster? De Balincourt leaves the answer wide open on purpose, letting each viewer bring their own reading to it. Those tiny people gazing upward could be cheering a spectacle or bracing for danger, and the painting never tells you which. That mix of beauty and unease is part of what keeps it interesting, and the sheer energy pouring off the surface makes it tough to turn away.