THE SELF-ISOLATION RESIDENCY 16th FEBRUARY 2021: DAY 324

New work in progress. Working title: "Beyond and Beyond."
Oil paint on plywood block, 150 x 150 mm

19, 20, 21: Finding a reason to paint, in search of the sublime. 16th February 2021.
Part 31: 'Interpretation, abstraction, illusion.
An Unsettling Appeal: Insearch of the Sublime.

By contrast Bacon’s volumes are pictorially interiors. They are frequently bland, sometimes they even behave in such a way as though their intention is to invoke domesticity or even mundanity. These interiors do vary in their nature, sometimes they are a constructed architectural space with an ostensibly transparent fourth wall, whilst on other occasions they appear to be little more than a suggestion of a glass vitrines suspended in the void, a cage defined by construction lines which we observe from without; however they are structured they remain very specifically a delineated volume which Bacon constructs in order to contain the mass of his figures.

There is also a huge contrast between Tanguy’s and Bacon’s figures; if Tanguy’s are dense, Bacon’s can really be described as indistinct or, sometimes even, ethereal. Although they do, clearly have strong anthropomorphic references and sometimes display weight, the edges of these figures blur and flow, not only into each other but also into the defined volumes specifically forged to restrain them. In a peculiar way this combination of the distinct volumes and indistinct masses, sometime make Bacon’s work feel more surreal than Tanguy’s.

I would argue that both artists own a debt to De Chirico for their volumes and masses; perhaps, specifically, Tanguy for his treatment of mass and Bacon for his handling of volume.  Interestingly, although Tanguy’s paintings conjure indefinite presences into being, the solidity of them often feels more tangible and perhaps even reliable than might be anticipated in surrealism, whereas the occupants of Bacon’s environments tend to be the ones that feel uncannier.


To be continued...