Conánn FitzPatrick

I have been looking for a good artist index for a long time and while I don't think I have found “the one,” this one covers a huge range of artists and styles.

It was while browsing the links on this site that I found what has to be my favourite painting of the moment “Study After Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X” by Francis Bacon which is based not too closely on this painting by Velazquez

Here in Dublin we are lucky enough to have Francis Bacon's Studio at the Hugh Lane Gallery. It did not take me long to realize why Bacon got so much great work done in his life time. Apart from not having a formal education in art and apparently not ever drawing, it appears that he gained a huge amount of time by never actually cleaning anything! The whole place looks like a bomb hit it the walls are covered in test dawbs of paint. The floor is covered in books brushes and anything else you could imagine and there is a striking absence of empty pizza boxes and fast food wrappers.

As for the painting, there are a number of things about it that make it work for me. When I was a very young kid I loved the artwork on “Pink Floyd's The Wall” which was created by Gerald Scarf which holds a similar feeling of emotional breakdown or personal release. Another artist who carries a similar feel for me is Ralph Steadman who may have possible been separated at birth from Scarf though remaining completely original.