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Lot Essay
"There is a thing about beauty. Beauty is always associated with the male fantasy of what the female body is. I don't think there is anything wrong with beauty. It's just what women think is beautiful can be different. And there can be beauty in individualism. If there is a wart or a scar, this can be beautiful, in a sense, when you paint it. It's part of your identity. Individual things are seeping out, leaking out.
What comes out of these paintings is a fascination with the body. I think you have to sit back and think about the actual structure of the body underneath. Where the heat is...
I like thick paint. I think you've got the solidity of the body of the paint itself. But there are areas of flesh that aren't thick. So using thick paint's not appropiate." (Jenny Saville in D. Sylvester, 'Areas of Flesh', The Independent, Sunday 30 Jan. 1994, p. 18.)
In dealing with the full range of reponses to women, and denying each in turn, the viewer receives an unambiguous message. Not that 'big is beautiful', rather that 'big is difficult'. We are neither revolted because the flesh is too appealing with it's layers of bruised blues and generous pinks; neither can we sympathise since her stance is too threatening. For the same reason we hestiate to ridicule; and we dare not pity.
What comes out of these paintings is a fascination with the body. I think you have to sit back and think about the actual structure of the body underneath. Where the heat is...
I like thick paint. I think you've got the solidity of the body of the paint itself. But there are areas of flesh that aren't thick. So using thick paint's not appropiate." (Jenny Saville in D. Sylvester, 'Areas of Flesh', The Independent, Sunday 30 Jan. 1994, p. 18.)
In dealing with the full range of reponses to women, and denying each in turn, the viewer receives an unambiguous message. Not that 'big is beautiful', rather that 'big is difficult'. We are neither revolted because the flesh is too appealing with it's layers of bruised blues and generous pinks; neither can we sympathise since her stance is too threatening. For the same reason we hestiate to ridicule; and we dare not pity.