90. FRANCIS BACON: A SPACE BETWEEN SMOKE AND MIRROR.

Francis Bacon, Human Presence. National Portrait Gallery - LONDON.

Francis Bacon, Head of A Boy, 1960. Oil on Canvas. 61 × 44.5 cm. Private Collection.

An emerald swathe of wool on skin - a body swung - as orb of the molten solidify to shatter.

A subject waits - as time ticks on to a discourse out of sight in a background palette of grays. 

To recoil within such conversations - as to be poised as a hostage within a frame - held through a tension sustained through longing, estranged, irrational - irresistible - as boundaries crossed and desires held.

To wreak havoc through the torment of worth - confined confidence of self - veiled and volatile within a distraction of predatory colour. A murmuring of bruises - beguile as violence is sustained - as open scars - hostile to heal.

Slaughtered pinks - demand and deter - as meat slapped to marble - awaiting a broken blade to sever, wipe and cherish.

As to trespass a soul’s soil and obsessively wrench and gouge - feast until fed - drink until drunk. As to climb into such cavities - internal architecture bled - raw to ruin - the bodily despicable. Follies of flesh viewed to pull and twist - to snap as a pincer gaze. A moment held - as a fish gasps for air - hooked lip held, body beats to flash such impossible greens as iridescent scales - to shimmer as eyes fix on such brilliance.

Within a no-mans-land where women are unseen - confiscated confessions lay alert within a dormancy of wanting. As to fight such urges as to bop and weave - to risk all for a chance to be confronted - alas these battles are never won - as to remain imprisoned within distorted depictions - as the smoke clears the mirrors remain.

Letter from Francis Bacon to Lucian Freud, written in Malta, dated 15 April 1964. National Portrait Gallery.

Francis Bacon, Human Presence. National Portrait Gallery. Until 19 January 2025.

Special thanks: Perry Stewart.