One of my favourite artists at the moment is Francis Bacon, I find his 1944&1965 crucifixion pieces both vibrant and spine chilling and I adore his use of colour and the way that he paints such distressing scenes of death that appear to be so full of life at the same time. I have always been interested in dark, unconventional art work so it is obvious that Francis Bacon and his work appeals to me and these pieces are my favourite. Bacon told David Sylvester, "I've always been very moved by pictures of slaughterhouses and meat... there have been extraordinary photographs which have been done of animals just being taken up before they where slaughtered; and the smell of death" It seems as if animals know what is going to happen to them, attempting escape... I believe Bacon did the same type of thing in his pieces, they remind me of animals, or more so souls, trying to escape the body. Bacon states that as a none believer in God, the crucifixion "was just man's behaviour to another" The crucifixion to people like him and me isn't a religious symbol- it is the hanging of meat in a slaughterhouse; it is the hurting of one another. On the subject of hurting one another; the 1944 version of the piece's exhibition in April 1945 coincided with the release of the first photographs and film footage of the Nazi concentration camps, I- and many other people feel that Bacon's work there "reflected the 'pessimistic' world shown by the holocaust & the advert of nuclear weapons."
I much prefer Bacons first version of the piece because the idea of meat in a 'slaughterhouse' appeals to me more with the three forms of violent death which are shown, I find the two figures on the right truly fascinating.. To me it seems that the figures in this piece are trying to escape their fates in that room, leaving behind a trail of raw feeling and sensation as they pass, glaring at the first death in horror.
The one thing that I love the most about Francis Bacon and these pieces are how timeless they are and how much they represent mankind today, over 70 years on. They not only make you question 'art" but the world that we live in and the way in which we treat people today.
I look at this piece and I see torn apart anthropomorphic figures hung up and slapped down as if they are just pieces of meat in a butchers, it makes me question the world that I live in because all over the world there are wars that are killing innocent people as if they mean nothing, yet people arent just slabs of meat that don't matter- they have souls, personalities and families just like me and you. I dont believe that life should ever be cut short.. I also don't believe that we should be killing animals just to eat, as if they mean nothing. Bacon's work never fails to open so many doors, with so many questions.
Im fascinated by the curved outline on the lifeless body crunched up on the bed, the dark crimson blood stains that are flicked over the striped, hospital like bed and the way in which the vibrant orange contrasts against the body, emphasising the pain and the torment of the piece. In the third part of this triptych the body seems almost too deformed to be human, its hung up and so very deceased, yet at the same time the carcass seems so full of life and movement. You see an open rib cage- yet you feel a screaming presence in this last third, how something so dead can seem so alive, this makes me think about people and how on the outside they look fine, yet on the inside they are screaming out for help.
I also like the way that he chose to do a triptych- just like old renaissance pieces of the crucifixion, telling a story. To conclude, I feel as though both pieces are a massive statement about mankind and how dark the world is that we live in, we are all full of life, but hopeless. I would love to create my own pieces like this, but I don't think that i could manage to create such beautifully dark figures. I definitely want to try though.
Comments
Post a Comment