Liam's Choice Artists: Cecily Brown: Gifted, Rude Painter

Hard, Fast and Beautiful,
Oil on Canvas, 254 x 279cm2000
Cecily Brown

I've discovered a new favourite artist. I don't always have my eyes faced outward to see who's hot in the art world, but I suppose I should, especially if it's someone brilliant like Cecily Brown.

I've got to comment that I don't dig the pornographic content. Not that I have anything against women, or sexuality, but I do have something against porn. I'm a Christian, after all. I prefer a PG rating. This stuff is offensive in it's content. But it's Brown's delivery that is so compelling. Her skill is undeniable, and the viewing of her work is so engaging, it's hard to look away even though I'm staring at something lude. Something unredeemably and unrepentantly sinful.

Ah, that word "sinful". I can feel my inner mocker snickering.

Hold on while I jump up on my soapbox: It's a good thing to be sinful nowadays. Smoking pot, swearing, and in this case, explicit sex-- it's all a good thing. To most people. For instance, outside of my Christian circle, most guys love porn. Most girls, too. Porn stars are seen as completely liberated, and heralded as heroes, and even role models. There's no shortage of porn in art school. Art school is almost like a next phase of sex ed. Of course, all of this is wrong. It's the sign of the times, I guess. Maybe you disagree with me? Write a comment about it below. But I digress. I now jump down off my soapbox.

My favourite painting of Brown's that I've seen is "Hard, Fast and Beautiful" pictured above. I know, I know, call me a hypocrite, but hear me out: I love the work of Francis Bacon. I love modernist paintings, Manet, Van Gogh... I love photos blurred by movement. Cubism. I love sketchy work; work that don't tell the whole picture. Brown's work has something of all of these. It's like Brown is an amazing lyricist who swears during every otherwise great line. She's reached into a box of Lucky Charms and pulled out all the marshmallows. Mmmmn. Maaaarshmallows.

I love "Hard, Fast and Beautiful" for it's simpler composition. It somehow becomes bolder and showcases Brown's handling of the medium and how her mind works, which in my opinion, is borderline genius. Brown seems to have an infinite capacity for conveying much with very little. Most of Brown's works are very busy and full. I'm a minimalist at heart, so frenetic design is a bit of a turnoff normally, but not here. That being said, of course my favourite paintings by Brown remain the ones that say more with less instead of those saying more that's said with less, but there's more of it anyway.

This painting above is titled "New Louboutin Pumps." It's a great example of why I love Brown's work so much. I mean, look at this thing! It's loaded. It seems to reference Monet, or other Impressionaist painters and Francis Bacon. In addition to porn and voyeurism. I read that her dad was a great art critic, someone named David Sylvester, and she used to cruise galleries as a kid with Francis Bacon. I don't know. Don't trust everything you read online!

I find myself wondering how quickly does she finish one of these massive eye-epilipsy-causing, brain warping celebrations of hedonism? If I was a fly on the wall of her studio, what would I learn about painting? Does she think her way through so many moments of multiple angles, movement and distortion? Or does it just happen naturally? I hear she works on up to 20 canvases at one time. My kinda girl.