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YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS OF TWO ERAS
FRANCIS BACON & DAMIEN HIRST
The themes of time, decay and flesh, coupled with death and destruction are subjects, which seem to hold a particular fascination for two artists of the twentieth century; Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst. There are some examples of artists in earlier periods dealing with these subjects
such as Boticelli and his depictions of Dante's hell theme, but these are isolated examples. In general it seems that popular artists through the ages have preferred to deal with more glamorous subjects either through choice, or because of simple commercial pressures. There may well have been artists producing work for a specialist non-popular market, verging on the pornographic but these have not stood the test of time. Even during the depressing, gloomy introverted periods of the Victorian era art seems to have been formal and moralistic rather than morbid.
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Bacon seems to dwell on, or at least be pre-occupied by, war, meat and death as can be seen in one of his first paintings that received public attention Painting 146. Damien Hirst seems to have almost picked up the theme started by Bacon and to have developed it by moving forward in time. In this respect there seems to be a clear link between the "Young British Painters" exhibition at Agnew's in London in 17 which featured Bacons work and the Freeze Exhibition of the "Young British Artists exhibition organised by Hirst nearly 50 years later (188). Hirst appears fascinated by a time continuum and the cycles of life as can be seen with his work 1000 years. It is clear to see how Hirst has been influenced by Bacon, but where did this theme of artistic expression come from? There seems to be no precedent in recent history before Francis Bacon. There are examples of work from other artists contemporary with Bacon which deal with destruction and decay; the most famous of which must be Pablo Picasso's (188 to 17) Battle of Guernica which was painted in a few months in 17. Bacon is often bracketed with Lucien Freud mainly because they were contemporaries, in fact personal friends, and in their work they both dealt with similar subjects but Freud seems to be more inspired by flesh and the human body than with meat and decay.
Francis Bacon was born in Dublin on 8th October 10 but was not Irish. He was one of a family of 5 children, his father was a part time racehorse trainer and the family moved about a great deal from London to Dublin and back. It is also clear that his mothers family were eccentric, with behaviour bordering on the mad and as John Russell - a biographer of Bacon put it "The important thing is that throughout his childhood he had an experience of human strangeness which set the tempo primo for much of his later life." Certainly Bacon had little or no formal education. There seems nothing extraordinary about his pre-teen years; he was 5 when World War I began and 10 when it finished. He was sent away from home by his father in 16 for being caught trying on his mothers underwear, a banishment which sealed the style of his life as a drifter throughout his teenage years. There is a version of these events (which appears to have its roots in the gay media), that he was banished for having affairs with some of the grooms at his fathers stables. Whichever of these views is correct matters little, in 18 he was living in Berlin and then in Paris, both experiences which opened his mind. Again to quote his biographer " Berlin and Paris gave him the notion of a big city as an erotic gymnasium in which spring-board, trampoline and a variety of cognate boosters were available for the paid up member." He enjoyed himself, gambled and generally soaked up life.
The things he seems to have inherited from his father were looks, charm and the gift of the gab and on his return to England in 1 he set up a studio in London, not as an artist but as an interior designer and decorator. He began dabbling with oil paint and had a joint show with a friend Roy de Maistre but this was a small affair it was not until 1 that Bacon really made his mark as a painter at the age of 4. He was "noticed" by Herbert Read an art publisher who reproduced one of Bacons paintings of a crucifixion in a book. The painting was purchased by Sir Michael Sadler after it was exhibited by Freddy mayor. All three of the above were well respected in the art world . In 14 Bacon organised his own exhibition and it is interesting to note that Bacon subsequently criticised nearly all of his work shown then, with the exception of one piece "Wound for a Crucifixion". This painting featured a large piece of human flesh on a table with a wound on it, which Bacon recalled afterwards as "a very beautiful wound".
The twenty years between the two wars 11 to 1 and more exactly the last ten years of this period is the time when Bacon laid down his artistic roots. He exhibited in 17 and then although asthma prevented him from doing active service he did not exhibit again until 145. During the war years he did serve as an air raid warden in London whilst daily and nightly bombing raids brought death and destruction to the city. It was at the end of the war in 145 that Bacon seems to has discovered, or rediscovered his desire to paint, a desire bordering on obsession.
The outstanding painting from the immediate post war period must be the Painting 146 which is 78inches x 5 inches, which is now displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is recorded that Bacon started this piece with the intention of painting a chimpanzee but that the inspiration just ran away with itself. It is certainly an impressive work both in the physical size and the subject. Once again the theme of meat and destruction are clearly seen. There are two huge sides of dissected human torso and ribcage framing the top of the painting which remind one of a vultures wings spread over the painting. Under these is a hideous image of the Italian dictator Mussolini who appears to be sheltering from the dripping blood under an umbrella. There are also two other joints of raw meat laid on the table in front of the figure. If Bacons account of how this painting evolved is accurate then this piece must really have come from his sub-conscious and Bacon deserves to be remembered for this piece alone although the themes which inspired it return again and again in his work. It is also noticeable that when Francis Bacon depicts decaying meat he does so with more detail than he affords to any other components of his work. You are left with the impression that he really enjoys painting this subject, the dark red gory flesh and the contrasting bone structure are vividly produced as are the severed bones with red marrow visible in them.
In his early days Bacon has confessed to being deliberately controversial in order to be noticed - as indeed - has Damien Hirst but another example of Bacon including images of death and decay run through his career. In 16 Bacon again returns to this form of expression with Three Studies for a Crucifixion, one of the first triptych works a style he used time and time again during his last thirty productive years. This piece is difficult to describe but if very powerful with rich colour tones. The first panel has two figures crossing a room with blacked out windows and in the foreground what appears to be a body cleaved in half. The second is unmistakably a figure on a bed in a room with window blinds (similar to those in Painting 146). This figure is distorted in a foetal position as if in agony and is splattered in blood , with blood stained sheets. This is not a figure but a body, destroyed and decaying where it lays. The third panel appears to be a body hanging upside down, rotting with the body cavity exposed and empty. Again the most detailed work is the decaying meat. Bacon repeated this theme again in Crucifixion painted in 165, another triptych. The mangled body on a bed appears again but this time in the left hand panel where it is being overlooked by a naked woman who is looking over her shoulder at the bed as she walks away from it. The middle panel is a crucified body slumped against a wall with the two legs in plaster and in splints. This figure is like the right hand panel of the 16 painting but with the body cavity less detailed. The right hand panel shows a naked male wearing an armband with a swastika motif and two elderly gentlemen sat at a table and wearing Panama hats.
Christophe Domino in his book Francis Bacon Taking Reality by Surprise interprets this as The figure on the right wears an armband decorated with a swastika, a detail that has encouraged a historical reading of the work. The two men watch a naked woman dancing. Hanging in the central panel is a pathetic stylized figure, roughly recalling the right hand panel of the 16 triptych, while in the left hand panel a slaughtered body is lying on a bed.
I am not sure that this is an accurate interpretation, it may be much more personal. The two seated men obviously relaxed as though sat watching a cricket match have turned their backs on the pain and suffering of the naked man with the swastika armband. Could this be Bacon being ignored by friends after the war? The middle panel could be a figure with two broken legs sat up in bed immobilized (as if hanging there crucified). Perhaps at this time in the 160s either Bacon or a friend suffered a broken leg - the injured leg theme crops up in Three Studies from the Human Body 167 and much later in Oedipus and the Sphinx after Ingres in 18. Whilst the left hand could be a naked woman leaving a broken and destroyed man on the bed and looking back taunting the man. Whichever interpretation is correct the life and death cycle and the gore of the meat are overwhelming themes in the work.
Bacon has a habit of returning to familiar themes throughout his work and parts of his Painting 146 are re-cycled again in 154. Bacon completed the Figure with Meat work in that year which is little more that a repeat of the Painting 146. The meat hanging behind the figure is more detailed than before and every other feature of the work is less detailed.
These images of decay and destruction are so powerful during his works of the 150s and 160s. This appears to have been the end of an era for Bacon, after this his work begins to mellow and become more reflective. Even his study of a bull fight - Study for Bullfight No 1- painted in 16 whilst clearly depicting death is a good deal less graphic.
What I like about Francis Bacons work is the sheer impact of his paintings. The subject matter is never glamorised, he painted what he felt - warts and all with a flowing dramatic style. I tend to work in a very controlled way paying great attention to detail and Bacons work inspires me to think big and reproduce what I feel. I do not always achieve this but I try. He also was not afraid to confront some of the taboo subjects of homosexuality, masochism and death and this boldness attracts me to his work. I have seen references to the fact that he never cleaned up his workshop and in fact would use floor sweepings to build body to his painting, an unconventional habit but he seems so intuitive, he just does what he feels and never mind the consequences.
There are no half measures with Francis Bacon you either love his work or you loath it. Personally I love it. The more I look at some of his paintings the more I see in them and I think I could live with some of his pieces and would never fail to see something new ever time I looked at them.
Moving forward, Damien Hirst was born in Bristol in 165, three years after Bacon had produced his Three Studies for a Crucifixion. He went to school, in Leeds and finally completed a foundation course at Leeds School of Art. In 186 he moved to London to begin an arts degree course. This was a Fine Art BA course at Goldsmiths College, which he completed in 18. Whilst he was still at Goldsmiths in 188 Hirst organised his first exhibition Freeze. This exhibition which was held in a warehouse in east London featured several of his pieces, and work by 16 of his fellow Goldsmiths students including; Gallacio, Julian Opie, Gary Hume and Simon Patterson
It is widely believed to have been the starting point for the young British artists movement, not only because it was so successful for a self-promoted exhibition, but also because so many of the artists who participated are now those considered the raw talent of today. The movement (if that is what it is) and especially Damien Hirst, must also have benefited from the patronage of Charles Saatchi. This modern collector began to acquire Hirsts work and exhibited it in the first Charles Saatchis Young British Artists exhibition. Saatchi has even commissioned work from Hirst, in 1 he commissioned the piece The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. Damien Hirst has since that time produced a wide portfolio of work and has continued to organise exhibitions of his own work in several countries. It has been said - and again there are reflections of Francis Bacon here - that Hirst has defined a modern generation of todays young British artists (yBa).
It is thought that this new generation is completely different from previous generations of artist, characterised by their entrepreneurial spirit, and their self-promotion. However; again comparing this with Francis Bacon there are remarkable similarities because his first exhibitions were self promoted and organised by he and his friends. The major difference is that in this modern age media and communications are much easier. The circle of artists, critics and publishers was much smaller in 10 than it is in 10.
One of the recurring themes in Damien Hirsts work has been a fixation with time, mortality, destruction, decay and lifes cycles. He is most famous (to date) for a series of works in which dead animals are presented preserved in tanks of formaldehyde. The titles often do not seem to have a relevance to the work, they must have some relevance to Hirst himself although if is not entirely certain that he is not simply taking the piss as he would no doubt put it. He is quoted as saying I want to set up situations that make people try to find meaning. I dont think my interpretations are important on a large scale
One art critic is quoted as saying that The artwork itself has a visual power that is virtually unmatched by any possible description of it. One cannot really hope to understand it, or even visualize it without experiencing it firsthand.
It is probably this power that was the reason why he was short listed for the Turner Prize in 1, when he was 7 years old and why he was eventually awarded this prestigious prize in 15 at the tender age of 0. In April 1 Hirsts God; a piece he produced in 185, essentially comprising a pharmacists shelve unit complete with drug sold for £188,500 the highest price of any of his pieces at that time. His Turner prize followed and the price of his work increased dramatically.
The themes of time death and destruction re are recurring themes in Damiens work. One example of this is Party Time as an example. He views the act of smoking as a microcosm within itself The cigarette packet is possible lives, the cigarette its own actual life, the lighter is God because it gives fuel to the whole thing and the ashtray is a graveyard, its like death. Damien is also fascinated by the fact that smoking is a theoretical suicide in the sense that it is not deliberate self-inflicted death, but people know it will kill them and they continue to partake. He stated that the concept of a slow suicide through smoking is a really great idea, a powerful thing to do.
Another example of this is the obsession with the medical world. The inspiration for his pharmacy pieces was the desire to make art that people really believe in, like they do medicine. Pharmacies provoke an idea of confidence, of trust in minimalism. I love medical logos, so minimal, so clean, theres something dumb about it. His pieces like Substitute, Holidays/No Feelings and God are meant to parody the Western notion that medicine and chemicals can help a person to cheat death. You can only cure people for so long and then theyre going to die anyway... You cant arrest decay, but these works suggest you can.
Damien says, I really love glass, a substance which is very solid, is dangerous, but transparent. That idea of being able to see everything but not able to touch, solid but invisible. The slits in the glass are very important to the works, you need some sort of access. In pieces where the glass structures enclose, say, a rotting animal carcass (A Thousand Years), that access can be a bit much for some viewers, as the smell is sometimes overpowering.
This piece absolutely describes time erosion and decay in microcosm. There is a life cycle in this work. A decaying cows head supports a colony of flies, which eat, mate, are killed by an insectocutor whilst their eggs hatch and repeat the cycle.
Many of Damiens animal works are not like A Thousand Years in that they are not supposed to go through any more natural processes. In fact, he goes through an immense amount of trouble to completely preserve them in formaldehyde. Many have questioned Damien about whether he is bothered by the possibility that corpses will eventually rot anyway. He replies that he is not concerned because he claims that the idea is more important than the actual piece. As long as they last until the end of his own lifetime, he doesnt care what happens to them after.
He is also capable of producing black humour in his work. In This Little Piggy Went to Market, This Little Piggy Stayed Home, each half of a bisected pig in tanks of formaldehyde, slide past one another on an automated track, separating and putting themselves back to together over and over again. He says, I hope that it makes people think about things that they take for granted. Like smoking, like sex, like love, like life, like advertising, like death... I want to make people frightened of what they know. I want to make them question. He achieves this by incorporating common objects into his work. Ordinary things are frightening. Its like, a shoe is intended to get you from one place to another. The moment you beat your girlfriends head in with it, it becomes something insane. The change of function is whats frightening... Thats what art is.
In August of 15, another New York gallery banned Damiens Two Fucking, Two Watching, which involves a dead cow and bull copulating by means of a hydraulic device. The piece was not preserved in formaldehyde, but rather was left to rot away. New York health officials were concerned that it might explode (if it were sealed shut, the methane gasses would build up and shatter the glass), or prompt vomiting among the visitors (if it were not sealed shut, as the door from the rotting carcasses would be overwhelming).
Damien is interested in more than just the conventional type of art and again this is a reflection of the wide interests that Francis Bacon had. His work encompasses all media - paintings, sculptures, video, he has even published a book. And he has a steadily growing interest in pop music. He has designed cover art for albums by the Eurythmics, and in 15 he directed a music video for Blur. He was part of an art and film exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in 16, where he showcased his first short film called Hanging Around. The film featured music by several of his pop-star friends from London. In 18, Damien himself became involved in a pop group, Fat Les, who recorded two singles that year, appeared at Glastonbury (but didnt perform), and who were accepted to participate in the Music Industry Soccer Six of 1. The group have plans for a feature length film and just to complete a range of interests Damien Hirst had entered the restaurant business.
In 10, Saatchi bought Damiens A Thousand Years and Saatchi has been a long term sponsor of Damien Hirst , this is an advantage that Bacon did not have but there are so many parallels linking these artists who between them have dominated the British art scene for 60 years and no doubt through the continuing work of Damien Hirst will continue well into the twenty first century.
For me Damien Hirst is just a complete icon. He typifies every thing that a young artist should be. He pushes at the established order and challenges you to think and think again about your own perceptions of art. He is there in your face all the time, and this inspires me to try and develop my own work. He has shown the world that there is artistic expression beyond paint and canvas and whilst I am sure that he does try to be deliberately provocative but that's what fires him. Damien Hirst has vision and is not afraid to express that vision. Who else could look at a pharmacists stock cupboard and compare this to God. Once he has made the point you see what he is getting at. Or the life cycle so beautifully stated with the life and death of flies. Damien Hirst pushes you and I like that approach. As he says The only interesting people are the ones who say Fuck off.
In summary both of these artists drew their inspiration from the pre-occupations of time, erosion and decay. Time alone will tell their importance from a longer perspective but they have both challenged their contemporaries and their audiences to reflect on these subjects and our own mortality. Francis Bacon was quoted as saying when he died he just wanted his body to be stuffed in a carrier bag and thrown in the gutter. Damien Hirst does not seem too concerned that his work may not last - so long as it lasts till his dead. The legacy left by both of these artists will be not the decay but the continuance in time of their work through the impact on the next generation of young British Artists.
I hope there will always be a new generation of Young Artists that push at the established bounds of what is acceptable and what constitutes art. Young people who are bold enough and maybe arrogant enough to do what they feel is right for them and to hell with the establishment. What is fascinating about Francis Bacon is that even when he became establishment he still did not conform and hope the same thing will be true of Damien Hirst 0 years from now.
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