“I feel at home here in this chaos because chaos suggests images to me.” —Francis Bacon
I find that artists look at paintings differently. Often times they examine the “how” before the “what”. The construction of a panel, the way the brush was loaded with paint and then unloaded upon a given surface, how an image is framed. Galleries become instructional tours instead of walls draped with imagery.
As part of this, one of the most fascinating things about any artist is the studio in which they create. What they surround themselves with, what litters the floors, how organized they are or are not, and the amount of work that stock piles in the corners. It’s all an amazing insight into the person and the process.
In A Terrible Beauty they recognize the importance of the studio and actually relocated Francis Bacon’s into a museum as a work of art within itself for all to view.
For a quick history lesson and some words from Francis Bacon, check below.