FRANK AUERBACH

Frank Auerbach is an 86 year old British artist who bases a lot of his work on the people and the landscape he sees around his London studio, The image above is called 'Head of E.O.W.I' and was made in 1960. The painting is oil paint on wood and clearly features a very thick application achieved by over painting many many times after each layer dries. He was often criticised for his heavy layers of paint and critics often said his paintings are more like sculptures because of this. The Tate website says 'in spite of the heaped-up paint, these are painterly images, not sculptural ones, have to be read as paintings and make their point just because their physical structure is virtually that of sculpture but their psychological impact is that of painting'. I want to use Frank Auerbach's technique in my own work, not just in my portraiture work but in all aspects of my work, I think thick use of paint has more expression and feeling behind it and is something I want to continue to use in my pracitse.