Self Portrait in a Mirror 1957

John Bratby made this self-portrait in front of a mirror using oil paint. You can see how much he enjoyed getting his hands dirty with the material of paint! The paint is applied really thickly, almost like he's building up layers of texture and color. It’s as if he’s not just painting a picture, but also kind of sculpting it. Look at the way he's captured the light glinting off the bottles in the foreground. There's a kind of energy to it, a raw honesty that is hard to deny. There's a nervous kind of energy, but also a boldness. Bratby reminds me of Auerbach, who also wrestled with the materiality of paint. But while Auerbach found a kind of melancholy beauty, Bratby is confrontational, capturing the messy reality of life, and of artmaking itself.