Art: Francis Bacon: A Century Retrospective @ the Met

Painting, 1946 (MoMa) Oil on Canvas

"I remember looking at dog shit on the pavement and I suddenly realized, there it is--this is what life is like." --Francis Bacon

Crude, unapologetic, caged biomorphic bodies, butchered cadavers, unremorseful, pummeled faces, horrific intensity, a dance between self-love and self-loath. These are the words that spring to mind while wandering through Francis Bacon: A Century Retrospective on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sixty-five punches of unrepentent intensity.

And the critics response? Same as its always been: hotly divided. While Slate's art critic, Christopher Benfey gave the show a remarkably attuned (and sagacious) appraisal , The New Yorker's art columnist (and ruler #2 of my universe--after Schama, of course), Peter Schjeldahl held Bacon's work at an arm's length in Rough Stuff, where the paintings are undermined as mere "pageant(s) of hangovers and refractory lovers." Ha!

With my own short-lived aspirations to become 'an artist' Bacon had been a powerful force in my search for self-expression. His images to me dwelled in the shadowy margins of socially 'acceptable' emotions, the angst of youth, horrors of life and death, and the battles between conceit and self-hate. Bacon's images in reproduced form, were very familiar and became part of preparatory work for my own oeuvres. Something was awry, however, as I walked through the glut of Bacon-filled rooms. I had waited what seemed to be an eternity to see a full retrospective of his work, as a thought crept in: was I really and truly feeling ever-so slightly nostalgic and (gasp!) disappointed?

What ever my own hopes and expectations were, it became clear to me that Bacon's work had once meant something quite different to eyes trained as an artistic sponge, directed to soak up emotions and inspiration. It was a revelation that today Bacon's work, while still riveting, shocking and awe-inspiring, could be appreciated from a healthy distance. It seems fruitless to dwell in my own personal development at least in blog-form-- I realized that I no longer needed Bacon's hateful and tortured images; they have served their purpose. From an art historical perspective, however, Bacon remains a seemingly eternal curiosity. Artistically he cannot be categorized as a member of the abstract expressionists, nor the Surrealists. His world-view inhabits that of existential compatriots such as Alberto Giacometti. His world stands on its own, and in some form or fashion can be seen to have inspired artists such as Lucian Freud. History (and the auction world) has proved to be been kind to this old gent, where his paintings can fetch over $80 million (in at least the pre-credit crunch era...)