JIM FARLEY: THE NAKED FLESH
Riverin-Arlogos Gallery
197, chemin du lac d’Argent
Eastman (Eastern Townships)
Tel: 450 – 297-4646
Figurative art is slowly making a comeback, it seems. Yet throughout history, there were always artists dedicated to depicting the human form, oblivious to the trends around them. Louis Muhlstock, now 97 years old, was one of the only Canadian artists to paint nudes, at a time – the 1960s - when the body was not in fashion.
During that same epoch, English painter Lucian Freud, was upsetting the art establishment with his painfully realistic portraits and nudes. Some saw it as the artist’s reaction to the triumph of abstraction, as much as the continued questioning of figurative art. But to art critic Jean Clair, Freud’s paintings spoke of a more profound involvement: “The problem is not simply the breaking of the rule imposed by society banning figurative art. It appears in the question: how to depict a person as a single entity, a single body, after all these mass deaths, witnessed by our 20th century world? How to resurrect the body after the era of crematoria?”
Freud’s figures are stripped of clothing, of surroundings, devoid of any social connotations, displayed as form and colour, as that unique entity Clair writes about.
Looking at the paintings by Jim Farley, one cannot escape the comparison with Freud. His nudes are painted with similar intensity and unflinching realism, and recall Freud ‘s contorted, at times emaciated bodies.
“I paint the human without any artifice,” the Montreal artist explains. “Without makeup, without clothing. There are no decorations and the colour is never used to seduce.”
Although the palette is darker, more sombre than Freud’s, Farley’s nudes continue the tradition of modern figurative art, quite distinct from the idealized bodies depicted by artists since the Renaissance.
As if by some collective unconscious, many of his works echo those of Freud.
At a recent exhibition of Farley’s works, at Riverin-Arlogos in Eastman, a portrait of the artist’s wife wearing a fur coat over her naked body, reminded me of Freud’s Girl in a Fur Coat. The facial expression, the blond hair and muted colours are similar. Somewhat different from the other portraits on display, it harked back to Farley’s paintings from the 1980s. After a hiatus of several years, the self-taught artist is back at his easel, and with ardour, which is quite visible in his paintings. The eroticism of his earlier works is no longer there, replaced by a preoccupation with the inner world of the model, as well as with pictorial demands of the craft itself. For beyond the instant seduction of his oeuvre, lies a great talent and technical mastery.
Farley’s reclining nudes, again, bring to mind Freud’s portraits, particularlyNaked Girl Asleep , reflecting almost identical pose and angle; eyes closed, limbs splayed on a bare floor, the pubis as central point. Both artists seem here to refer to the French painter Goustave Courbet (1819-77) and his infamous painting of a nude titled The Origin of the World.
The application of colour, the manner in which the body is constructed on canvas, also link the two artists, separated by time and distance. The gesture is clearly visible, the movement of the coarse brush can be traced in the nuanced shading of the body, and the disturbing, swirling, abstract background. The rawness created by this technique gives the bodies a certain materiality, realism, and at the same time, keeps them within the realm of pure painting.
This is what makes Farley’s solo exhibition such a satisfying viewing experience. Surrounded by a pantheon of sombre-faced, naked figures, the viewer’s senses are assaulted in a variety of ways. Once the mere impact of these paintings is digested, one proceeds to an almost meditative contemplation of the brush strokes, and from there, the message in the stance of Farley’s sitters. His models differ from Freud’s in one significant way – their attitude. Eyes wide open, they engage the viewer in an instant dialogue, somewhat uncomfortable perhaps, even disturbing. That’s exactly what Farley wants. “I believe, that our modern era, by manipulation, endangers our psyche and, due to a moral unconsciousness, our physical integrity. This is what I’m trying to paint: undress, yes, take off everything. Look at your face without makeup. Your papers, jewellery, into that bag there. Now, against the wall.”
- Dorota Kozinska
Editor
English edition
Vie des Arts