The Creeping Flesh 1991

Glenn Brown made "The Creeping Flesh" with thick brushes, and it looks like he was moving paint around, piling it on, and pushing it off again. I feel for the artist in moments like this, where the painting process becomes a physical struggle, a kind of wrestling match between the artist and the material, to wrestle something that is visible from the invisible! The way the brushstrokes curl and twist, almost like fleshy ribbons, that evoke a sense of unease, like the subject matter itself is alive and writhing on the canvas. Each stroke is like a layer of skin, a stratum of memory or emotion. There’s a conversation going on between different moments in the work, with each gesture answering or questioning the ones that came before. It makes me think about how painting is a form of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty.