A haunting and atmospheric work by Philippe Cognée, *Etoile pour folie no. 2* (2008) exemplifies the French artist's signature encaustic painting technique, in which wax-based paint is manipulated with heat to create blurred, almost photographic imagery that appears to dissolve before the viewer's eyes. The composition evokes a sense of disorientation and melancholy, with forms emerging from and receding into a dreamlike haze. Cognée's process mirrors the fragility of memory and perception, rendering the familiar strange and unsettling.