"By not being bounded by a certain decorum, being able to move without being enervated by the necessary restrictions the law imposes, Bacon contests its limits. We enter on the structure of the ‘pervert’. Bacon has a special knowledge, and no fear of brandishing it in the face of others.
Bacon’s work makes available this secret space while at the same time it allows him to keep dumb about that secret. This is part of what I will examine concerning the area of inscription in the confi gurations of his paintings.
Furthermore, I mention here what I describe as being in the field of perversion is my description directed toward the works; it is not specifi cally aimed at an analysis of Francis Bacon himself, the producer of the works, although insofar as Bacon is revealed through his paintings it is related to him. What I wish to do here is to look at Bacon’s work against a reading of some of the aspects of the structure of perversion, particularly those aspects that tie the viewer in with the painting – in a sense, in the coupling of the viewer with what is displayed. In effect, it can be suggested that for Bacon – and this is surmise about the function of the work of art for him as an artist – the works are ways of expressing what cannot be said and erupt with an attempt at discourse that says and does not say."
Brenda Marshall
