Jenny Saville

Propped 1992, Oil on Canvas

This painting reveals a grotesquely magnified Saville, perched in equilibrium on top of a narrow stool. A feeling of tension inhabits this excessively full figure as she clutches her voluminous thighs – enlarged through perspective – and pulls her head backwards, though still glancing slightly at the viewer. Across the painted surface, Saville has carved directly into the material a quote by the feminist writer Luce Irigary, which reveals her concerns; ”If we continue to speak in this sameness, speak as men have spoken for centuries, we will fail each other again”. Irigray’s message clearly stresses a need to re-appropriate the female body, which has been conquered over time by the language of patriarchy.

Work in Progress

‘Untitled’ – Oil on Canvas

For this painting I have focused largely on skin texture and the tones in the skin. ‘A portrait is a painting, photograph, or sculpture, or another artistic representation of a person, in which the face and it’s expression is pre-dominant.’ I am highly interested in looking at the mood and or expression of a person closely. I am absorbed in quite abnormal portraits that are extremely close-up and personal to the subject. Moreover, I am not concerned with typically ‘pretty’ portraits – instead of looking for beauty and perfection in a portrait I think it is more thought provoking to look at all the imperfections in the face. No body is perfect.