Blog #3, Part 2: Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon's portraits are quite unappealing to me, as they seem to be to others as well. The way he takes photographs of people and then distorts them is not what I am drawn to. I am drawn to the fact that he does this using his friends' portraits instead of having them sit for him. He said in interview 3, 1971-1973, "We nearly always live through screens -- a screened existence. And I sometimes think, when people say my work looks violent, that perhaps I have from time to time been able to clear away one or two of the veils or screens." I really like that statement, that maybe by distorting these images of humans, he has removed their veils and revealed their true nature.

I found it surprising and enlightening when he spoke about criticism. He said he wished he had someone to criticize his work, because it makes you think, even if you don't agree with what someone said, you still sat down and mulled over it. With praise, you just accept it and move on. I think that can be taken far beyond the spectrum of art, into day-to-day life. When people critcize us, we think about it. Maybe it helps us change, maybe not, but they still caught our attention, if just for a moment. "...people are less vain of their personalities than they are of their work. They feel in an odd way, I thnk, that they are not irrevocably commited to their personality, that they can work on it and change it, whereas the work that has gone out -- nothing can be done about it." This statement was quite entertaining to me, causing me to chuckle a bit, but I feel it is true. People's personalities are always morphing, but it's like once their art goes out, it's concrete; nothing can be done to change it now.