Jenny Saville has likely
influenced my artistic style more than any other artist. Growing up reading
books about the ‘great artists’, which exclusively contained male painters,
Saville was my first real introduction to a known female artist. She introduced
me to a world in which art didn’t have to be perfect or traditionally beautiful
to be great. Her depictions of female faces and bodies that steered away from
the objectifying depictions of women as ‘perfect’ odalisque-esque subjects
influenced me as both a painter and as a woman. To be told, as a young mind,
that paintings of women in traditionally unflattering poses and states were
still worthy of study and applaud, was deeply important in ingressively
combatting societal pressures for me and my peers to be such ‘perfect painters’
or indeed such perfect subjects.

Her fluidity of brushstrokes
and inclusion of surrealistic colours continues to inspire my work. Her style
often contributes to the sense of freedom and non-conformity inherent in the
subjects of her pieces, and overall leads to a rich and engaging piece with
more to be discovered upon each revisitation.

My work shown here is less
akin to hers in style than some of my other pieces, but it is very much
influenced at its root by the type of message that Saville expressed to me when
I was younger. The painting is inspired by the TV Series ‘Fleabag’, in which
the female protagonist is herself a naturally flawed human who is often
presented in typically unflattering ways. Written by a woman, the series
parallels Saville’s holistic championing of all facets of womanhood;
presentable and ‘unpresentable’. The subtle reminders of what it is to be
human, and what potentials humankind has is, to me, the pinnacle of any art
form. Saville has always managed to encapsulate such reminders in her pieces,
whilst simultaneously demonstrating to generations of young female artists that
women can break through in an industry dominated so heavily by men.