Maxx & I went to view the Francis Bacon 'Five Decades' exhibition yesterday at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. If I wasn't already feeling unhinged before I walked amongst the grotesque paintings, I certainly was afterward. Whether the distorted figures, mouths agape screaming rustled the nerves of many a viewer like myself, I don't know. Perhaps they dredged up fleeting memories of horror movies I've seen over the years; like the frothing sinister head of Jack Nicholson peering through an axed doorway in 'The Shining' or the chained and detained figures of the 'Saw' movie franchise.
I gotta stop watching horror films! The portraits Bacon executed (mostly of his lovers), must have been unflattering to the sitter but could be pardoned in their deeply complex emotional states which saw the artist's fame rise over several decades.

'Francis Bacon is a towering figure of 20th-century art. His paintings are gutsy, controversial and unforgettable. With painful beauty Bacon lays bare the struggles of the human condition.'

Earlier in the day when we had only just arrived at the gallery, we ran into a friend who works with the staff on reception; Chris informed us that moments before we arrived, a tourist in a group had sat on an art installation in the Australian art galleries section for a photo opportunity and the entire sculpture collapsed! I just hope the Gallery posts the CCTV footage on Youtube for us all to laugh at.