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From: Vesty Pantekin Category: Art Date: 21 January 2010 Time: 06:52 AM Review: Accepting the irony of these disparaging remarks and the godawful position that the Guardian occupies, Freud's painting was never entirely obsessed with "expertise" or technique, it has simply become a target for the justification of figurative, representational or naturalistic representational painting. Freud often receives flack from contradictory sources and had Hirst decided to base his newfound painting career on Freud rather than Freud's longstanding companion Bacon or Brett Whitely - Australian enfant terrible, the recent paintings at Manchester Square and Hoxton may have been impossible to trace their influence as style. As it is Bacon is fashionable but part of the critical response to Hirsts painting was the fact that the chosen style did not signify a depth of anykind in Hirsts tribute act. To look at Freud's surfaces one might expect a certain critical disatisfaction, Jennifer Saville springs to mind and her works seem to emenate more than a surface component. Don't doubt Freuds abilities or achievements, his early work is raw and twitches with edgy potence, his later work is maximal, almost exploding. Freud is one of Britains most fascinating artists and one of Britains greatest too. Without Freud, Rolf Harris would be allowed to sit at the table and would not be put out at night with the empty milk bottles.