A Woman - Variation 1 — Watercolor on Paper by Arnaud Quercy

About This Artwork

This watercolor explores identity as constructed perception, presenting a female figure through interlocking shapes and abstracted features rather than literal representation. Exhibited in Human Exhibition Vol. 1 at the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, the work continues Arnaud Quercy's investigation into how memory, place, and observation shape the human image. The fragmented portrait suggests complexity rather than conclusion—a face neither fully revealed nor hidden.

Earthy reds and warm ochres dominate the composition, grounding the figure in tones that reference both flesh and the urban intimacy of Butte-aux-Cailles, Paris, where the work was created. Blue spherical forms provide cool contrast, while yellow triangular accents punctuate the surface. Geometric forms—circles, triangles, curved planes—interlock across the picture plane, held together by a network of fine black lines that trace connections between shapes. The watercolor medium allows colors to layer with translucent depth, creating soft transitions where forms overlap.

The 30 x 21 cm format places the work at an intimate scale, requiring close viewing to perceive how abstraction and recognition interact. As Variation 1 in this series exhibited at the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, the piece demonstrates how Quercy's approach to inner architecture translates psychological complexity into visual structure. The woman emerges not as a singular likeness but as an archetype—assembled, reinterpreted, charged with presence.

The work includes certificate of authenticity AQC0473 and is signed by the artist.