Bacon is interested in the figure beyond figuration. It is a kind of form which acts directly on our nervous system. The sensation of the flesh, undistracted by thought.

It is the figure removed from the confines of specific narrative. No longer needed extensive labouring over or confined to more praggmatic end points. It has found a certain autonomy.  Itis something more direct, lacking the waffled monolgued. Its the recording of the fact, a true realism, and avoidance of the empty motif.

In this chapter movement is also touched upon. The link between Bacon and Muybridge is mentioned. The later is cited has provided a fertile base for Bacon to draw from in revelling new ‘decompositions’ of movement.

Rhythm is mentioned in regards to Bacon and movement. Figural dynamcis are certainly the most improtant aspect of Bacon’s figures. The squirm, the dissovle, they melt, they fall, the implode, they vomit themsleves out and get pulled in by some inner gravity, they are wiped over and split open. These acrobats are often scarred with blurtred scrubbings, ambiguous passagesof paint which denote a particular movement through space. They also convey more illustrative positionings of limbs, moments paused, figures held in a particular pose and denoting a movement stilled between A and B. It seems like a direct link back to Bacon’s fascination with photography, the slow vs fast shutter speed approach to capturing movement. In amoungst the choas, the lines, the paint and the space, Bacon seems to harness both. He does it without ignoring the principles of his own medium, but instead as a mode in which to follow deconstruct adn understand it. It becomes a dialogue adn battle between painterly organic marks and linear design. I think colour also plays a huge part.

muybridge- ‘the decomposition of movement into seperate parts’ intense and violent movements. the impact of invisable forces.

rhythm-s