Scrum 1980

Ernie Barnes created this painting called 'Scrum' with some oil paint and a vision. The colours are muted, earthy, and give a sense of groundedness. I wonder how the artist started? Did he get straight in there with the figures, or did he start with a background wash of colour, figuring out the composition as he went? I can imagine him wrestling with how to capture the frenetic energy of this pile-up of bodies. There's such a dynamic sense of movement, the way the limbs are all tangled together, pushing and pulling. It’s like trying to capture a dance, or maybe a fight, with all the bodies in flux. The hands are like reaching branches, desperate for purchase. Barnes is interested in painting bodies in motion, and I think he really captures that here. Painting is like sport. I think he’s encouraging us to think about how we might see or feel bodies and movement differently, through paint. There’s a kind of embodied knowledge that comes from doing. We are all on some playing field.