Francis Bacon, ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion’, 1944
Most of us have never experienced anything like this before, and it’s pretty surreal. It feels like a Black Mirror episode, mixed with the films of Groundhog Day and the Truman Show all blended into one big, dystopian shitshow. Repetition of going to the kitchen seems tedious, not having a haircut for months felt liberating, and the fact of finally seeing someone familiar that you haven’t seen in a while has become a treat, while not seeing others has been a blessing. The whole bubble of forcing many of us to re-evaluate our lives, and what we took for granted before has become a daily mirror. But that’s a good thing, right?
Like everyone in 2020, there have been certain things that I miss like going to concerts, the cinema, and of course going to art galleries and seeing new exhibitions. It hasn’t been an easy ride for us, and winter is something no one is looking forward to.
The Garrick Arms - Stay Strong
The advantages of going to a gallery/museum during a pandemic
I went to Tate Modern recently, just because I miss going to art galleries and because I just wanted to see their permanent collection (for the 43rd time - I’m guessing). It sucked because of Covid-19 and the lack of the spontaneity of just popping into a gallery whenever I feel like it, now it’s all pre-booking with a timeslot ticket in advanced stuff. On the other hand, the advantage was that there were hardly any queues, not so many people, barely any tourists, and children were almost absent. On the whole, it was inspiring as I could breathe and have space (maybe social distancing is a good thing after all, especially in London).
When I got to the room of Francis Bacon’s ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion’, I started to question why mental health has been considered a weakness for so long. Despite him being a post-war artist, Francis Bacon who was self-taught took on the human psyche and used his mental health issues as a tool to paint some of the most haunting, yet honest paintings of the human condition. I am glad mental health is being spoken about more in today's world, but this needs to obviously be further addressed and understood.
Francis Bacon, ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion’, 1944
The gift and curse of COVID-19 for artists
One of the few positive things about all of this is the artwork coming out, I've seen some cool stuff by artists emerging online and in the streets. It has formed a creative window for everyone to come up with something from nothing, into something special. This period of solitude time has almost forced many people to get ‘in tune’ with their creative sides and allowed more of the ‘me time’ back into people’s lives. The gift for the artist is that solitude rewards the artist with new artwork, the drawback is that there is a lack of opportunities for exhibitions, to sell and show, as well as visiting other artists.
Patrick Heron
‘Yellow Painting : October 1958 May/June 1959’
The Plague
When I read Albert Camus’s book, ‘The Plague’ over ten years ago, I remembered how he used the metaphor of the walking people already dead from their spiritual side, and who barely existed by just working for business sake, and being distracted by the mundane things in life to get by in order to preoccupy themselves from the dread of facing themselves...
"The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business.'"