A rather late post, as the exhibition is now over, but I thought that it was worth reviewing regardless. I have long admired Jenny Saville's work and the opportunity to see a large selection of her recognisable work alongside new pieces was unmissable. Her work needs to be seen in the flesh as it were, in order to fully appreciate the range of colour and textured brush strokes that characterise her work. Although some pieces in the exhibition were almost uncomfortable to look at, due to the nature of the subjects, one purportedly drawn from a victim of gun crime from police records, the work is technically beautiful. A particular favourite of mine was the portrait of a blind woman, the colours used were beautiful and conveyed the blindness hauntingly. The bodies depicted may not be what is now conventionally beautiful in out society, and Saville claims not to be seeking for us to accept these bodies, but there is a certain intangible beauty in the works. Her choice of colour palettes ranging from selections of blues and mauve alongside pieces composed entirely of violent shades of red, often give the impression of abuse of the subject.
Although I found these colossal paintings fascinating, it was the display of new works that I found most engaging. This work comprised of charcoal drawings on the theme of mother and child as well as references to works from the renaissance, the images overlaid creating a feeling of motion - particularly effective in the mother and child images as it accurately conveyed the awkward movement of the young child in the images, their arms and legs flailing wildly.
A trip to the gallery's cafe after seeing the exhibition was also a treat, I can highly recommend the homemade soups! This gallery is well worth a visit.
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