This paper aims to investigate the Nouvelle Figuration paintings of Gérard Fromanger by means of a Deleuzian concept, the machine. As is well known, in Francis Bacon, Logic of Sensation , Deleuze sets ‘capture of force’ against ‘representation of form (figuration)’, and gives priority to the former. But in his essay about Fromanger, we can find a different theory of painting that advocates pictorial struggles inside figuration more affirmatively. In this case, the point is not to extremely transform figuration, but to bring about new movements inside it through colors. To explain these movements, he disjoints Fromanger’s painting-machine, explores its operation, and elucidates its effect. In his point of view, the critical mind of the painter is summarized as follows. Leave the world full of merchandise images as it is, or activate something else inside it? Imbuing “the ugliness and the disgustingness” with “movements of colors which will constitute tomorrow’s life,” Fromanger creates a new way of overcoming figuration inside figuration.

Gérard Fromanger , Gilles Deleuze , machine , Nouvelle Figuration , painting-machine