Remember Essaouira Painting

Lucien Tilly’s mesmerizing paintings form scenes that range from abstract views of icy crystals to naively rendered hills and pastures, always portrayed through brightly colored dots of paint. For each piece, Tilly hand-mixes his pigments, creating the perfect combination of colors that, when used side by side, create both depth and flatness. He uses a wooden stick to apply each dot of color, never tiring of the process, and enjoying the sense of losing himself to the rhythm of the action. He finds it both calming and invigorating, and this feeling affects and infuses the resulting works. Tilly’s technique and his paintings more generally are inspired by the traditions of Australia’s Aboriginal artists, which have had a dramatic impact on the artist. In addition, he looks to his own surroundings, and his memories of travel to Australia, searching for ways to connect his experiences to history. This mode of creation allows him to reflect on tradition, culture, and visual language, and to highlight the communal aspects of art-making in his pieces.