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Francis Bacon at The Tate Britain: WHY IT IS NOT GREAT

From:     Lyonel Pincus
Category: Art
Date:     17 September 2008
Time:     04:18 AM

Review:

Bacon is full of people looking very seriously at the paintings.This is what they won't think cos of the 
megahype and market interest in establishing bacon as a master:

1: If Bacon were french or australian he would be seen as minor, britain has a shortage of artists of 
his generation therefore Tate BRITAIN needs him to be important.

2: The paintings look like illustrations of angst. Seeing a picture of a screaming pope or bit of a 
person or some other upsetting thing, doesn't make you feel upset. The medium tends to prettify the 
message. And his imagery hits you over the head with its intent, except its actuality is impotent.

3: All the paint itself is dull and dead looking and scrubby. 

4: The colour schemes are reminiscent of a 50s/60s soho cafe.

5: The backgrounds look like student work. Here is a bit I don't know what do with, so I'll make it look 
like one of those American abstract paintings, sort of, with some filled in squares and lines. Hey that's 
also existential, great.

6: They appeal to the provincial suspicion of abstraction, while still seeming a bit modern. 

7: They're all the same, a figure taken from a blurry photo, some Picasso part for the whole, and a flat 
background with a box or line. 

8: They're just not that good.


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