Jean and Table Top (Girl in a Yellow Jumper) 1954

John Bratby made 'Jean and Table Top (Girl in a Yellow Jumper)' and I reckon he must have been driven by an urgent need to get the paint down, any which way. This isn't about slick surfaces or perfect lines, it's about the feel of the stuff itself. Check out how the paint is laid on thick, especially in the girl's yellow jumper and the white of the table. You can almost feel the bristles of the brush. It's a kind of glorious mess, but there's a method to it, right? See the way the perspective is wonky, how the table seems to tilt? Bratby's not trying to trick you into thinking this is real, he's showing you how he sees, how he feels about what he sees. I'm reminded of Auerbach, another painter who wrestled with the materiality of paint, trying to capture the fleeting nature of experience. In the end, art is about having a conversation across time and space. It is about seeing things in a new way.