One out of Two (symposium) 2016

Jenny Saville built this image from charcoal and pastel, with a palette that's almost entirely grey and flesh-toned. It seems to emerge from layered reworkings, shifting like memory itself. Looking at this, I can imagine Saville, poised, circling around the figures, almost like a dance. I imagine her thinking about the weight and volume of the body, how it shifts and settles. See how the marks build up the forms, the way the charcoal smudges and blends, creating a kind of hazy, dreamlike effect. It is almost like the body is not quite there, and the mind is also not quite there. The red lines feel like raw energy, or maybe exposed nerves. It's a little bit like Francis Bacon but somehow, in her own way. Saville explores the physicality of paint, the texture, the surface, and I get a sense that she is in an ongoing conversation with other artists across time. It feels so embodied, so human. The ambiguity makes this work a space for thinking and feeling, rather than a fixed statement.