The Art of the Process: An Interview with Saffron Murray-Browne.
‘BODY’ Series - Interview 3.
The final artwork of an artist is often revered more than the making process of the work itself, and this process is also often bylined in art criticism. Saffron Murray-Browne in her uninhibited work ‘Movement on Paper’ inverts this notion by center staging the process of making as the final product. In another unconventional approach, Murray-Browne, in her painting ‘Interruption’ re-imagines the long history of self-portrait and conflates it with her own take on the theme of narcissism, to give a peculiar yet strong standing place in the art of portraiture.
‘Movement on Paper’
Because you have mentioned and emphasized about the process of mark-making in your artwork ‘Movement on Paper’ and because I know of impressionists using mark-making as a significant technique in their work, do you consciously or unconsciously consider yourself as working in the same or similar school of thought? Or do you consciously break away from the same?
There is no particular school of thought that I consciously adhere to or break away from – I think I might find that restrictive. I look at all kinds of art and generally cherry pick any ideas that especially resonate with me.
Mark-making is something that is always being inspired by others, I am constantly finding artists with a beautiful way of working. I think no artist exists independently and we all build on each other’s ideas and techniques. Though I was not directly referencing any specific artist in ‘Movement on Paper’, I first discovered oil sticks through Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work, and have since been inspired by how George Condo uses them.
Personally, I have never been struck by the Impressionists! Though I appreciate the important break they made from realism, I find their subject matters repetitive. I am, however, very interested in their Modernist predecessor Manet and the resulting Post-Impressionist movement.
‘The Investigation’ by George Condo (2017) Oil and Pigment Stick on Canvas
As I see it, and perhaps a lot of other viewers would do too, the first artwork appears to be fluid, as in ‘in process’ or maybe ‘under construction’. Did you think about this when you first undertook the artwork? Was it a deliberate choice to focus on the process, in this case a ceaseless process than the complete final end result of the same?
Definitely it was – the piece was created on a residency, where I focused on process rather than outcome. In this drawing I was responding to the way I moved, and I had no idea what the resulting piece would look like.
If any of my work has come close to performance art, I think it is this one – it is really a realisation of movement. I love the idea that it looks as though it is still ‘in process’ – that is always a very exciting place for an artwork to be.
The apparent difference between both the sides of ‘Movement on Paper’ are stark. As I see it, the right-hand side appears to be a smoother, more continuous version as compared to the left-hand side. Do you think that rather than viewing them as separate entities, one can understand the two sides as the two aspects of the mind? Perhaps like the id and the superego? How do you, the artist view them?
I had not considered them in this manner but drawing very often reveals subconscious ideas. I used different hands for the two figures (right for right, left for left), so this may reveal why they are dissimilar. Since your hands are controlled by the opposite sides of your brain, I would in fact have been using different parts of my brain for each figure, which is an interesting idea.
I used the same technique for both drawings, which I think leans me towards seeing them as two sides of the same form rather than separate figures. Ultimately, there is no correct interpretation - someone told me they saw them as two friends in exaltation, which I also love.
‘Interruption’
The artwork ‘Interruption’ and the theme of narcissism is deeply intriguing. Do you think that the artist’s fixation with the nude female body and the likes are actually the artist’s wish to ‘be that body’? In the given painting too, the artist, in this case you decide to keep that beautiful female form and impose your own expressive face?
I believe you can discover the artist’s perspective through a viewer’s response, and whether they identify more the figure or the artist. In many nudes, the figures have been disempowered, with minimal personality left, that it is difficult to identify with or relate to them. You see them more like the artist saw them – as beautiful lines, textures, colours. It is hard to want to be a body when that body appears more like an object than a person. In these instances, I think the artist is more intent on capturing the appearance of the body, rather than being it.
In ‘Interruption’, the imposition of my mirrored face on the face of the model intends to block any possible entry point where you would identify with her, and this relates to the narcissistic ideas behind it. The body is part of the background, whereas the face in the mirror is the subject matter.
Your inclusion of the book of women’s self-portraits in the painting and the distinct presence of it in the forefront of the painting suggests an engagement with the long history of portraiture in art. Is there any artist, specifically female, that you look at for inspiration or as a source? Do you think there are any differences between the self-portraits produced by male and female artists?
Chantal Joffe is a big inspiration of mine; I think she has masterfully escaped the threat of the male gaze in her work. Her pieces are very unselfconscious, as though they were not intended to be viewed by anyone asides from herself.
I believe women in their self-portraits have to be aware of the long tradition of women in painting – especially if the artist is working in oils, which carries a lot of historical baggage. A woman simply cannot paint herself naked without it being seen it in the context of ‘The Female Nude’; even if no reference is made to the traditional genre, it will then be seen as a subversion of it. You can see why many feminist artists decided to leave oil painting behind, and forge new artistic languages for the female body (such as Schneemann and performance art). Joffe is one the female artists overcoming the clichés associated with oil painting.
‘Reading in the Bath II’ by Chantal Joffe (2019) Oil on Canvas
In the description of your painting, you talk about the female body being reduced to a mere prop. In your painting as well, your engagement seems to reduce the subject/object to a mere prop. Are you in any way making a comment of how the female body has been treated in the history of art? Is it in any way a commentary on the dominance of the male narrative in art history?
I would have to say that when I originally painted it – no. I was thinking about the farce of painting, of the fact artists even both to paint someone else when they are only interested in themselves, and their own point of view. Many artists will paint someone and the only personality that comes through is the artist’s, and the figure is just a vessel for them.
But I think this feminist interpretation can be read into it - the reason I used a female model was because I felt it was the more ‘ordinary’ sex to pick for this topic. This, of course, is a result of male dominance throughout art history and how pervasive the male point of view has been. I think every painting has been influenced by the paintings that have come before it, whether it was intentional or not.
See more of Saffron’s work on her website or Instagram.
Illustrations:
Condo, G. (2017) The Investigation [oil and pigment stick on linen] 254 x 609.6 cm. Available at: https://ocula.com/art-galleries/almine-rech-gallery/artworks/george-condo/the-investigation/
Joffe, C. (2019) Reading in the bath II [oil on canvas] dimensions unknown. Available at: https://online.victoria-miro.com/friezelondon2020/
