Touching a nerve (kettle)

 

Acrylic, charcoal and graphite on canvas 24" x 24"

I know that the fashion is not to say too much about the work and I do understand that to some extent. However, when I look at people's work it fascinates me to know what might have prompted them to work in a particular way, making the marks they have made. 

Like all painters I have a small library of books about painting and some I go back to time and time again. Often it is not the work itself that turns me on but what they have to say about it - their sincerity. One of my favourites is "Interviews with Francis Bacon" by David Sylvester.  Bacon has a reputation for stubbornness and whackiness but he was also a highly intelligent, patient, thoughtful and sensitive man and Sylvester brings this out in him as he (Bacon) struggles to answer the probing questions Sylvester puts to him.

I have a habit of making pencil notes on A4 paper when I am reading a book like this. Here are a few notes I made fairly recently  (sorry, I don't know now if these are Bacon's own words or me paraphrasing him):

Why does some paint come across directly onto the nervous system and other paint tells you the story in a long diatribe through the brain?  |(I am almost sure this is Bacon and not me paraphrasing).

He went on to say it was not his intention to say something about the nature of man.  He said " I'm just trying to make images as accurately off my nervous system as I can. I don't even know what half of them mean".

And again, I have written something down which I am not sure is a quote of his, a paraphrase of his or a creation of my own:

"How can I make this image more immediately real to myself?"

For me this is really important - the notion that the reality of a work - its authenticity if you like - needs to allow for more deeper influence(s) than just the brain can come up with.  

At the moment I am reluctant to make any further marks on this piece. I feel I would risk simply "tidying it up".  In fact with this whole series the white of the canvas is becoming very important to me.  It might change, we'll see.

So, ok,  Friday dawned as Fridays do and I knew I was going to work some more on this image. I kept adding detail but then realised I wanted to find big shapes. It looks like a kettle to me. Well if Antoni Tapies can paint a settee then I am damned sure I can paint a kettle. 

Question is - can a kettle touch a nerve?

Answer - yeh, why not?