Hyphen 1999

Jenny Saville made this painting, Hyphen, with oil paint. Looking closely, it’s clear that she laid down the paint in thick, deliberate strokes. There’s no attempt to hide the process; the materiality is upfront. Saville is working within a long tradition here, carrying on the legacy of painters like Rembrandt and Bacon. But she also gives it a contemporary spin. The way she layers the pigment, the way she constructs the forms with evident facture, is all about confronting you with the brute fact of the painting, and indeed of flesh itself. Her focus on the physical presence of the paint and her subject creates a powerful connection between the viewer and the artwork, emphasizing the visceral experience of viewing. Saville’s work compels us to consider how artists use traditional materials in innovative ways to confront us with social and cultural issues. The way the materials are handled is crucial to unlocking its meaning, blurring the lines between fine art and the hands-on world of craft.