Cecily Brown Interview: Totally Unaware

“The phone is obviously the death of society and culture.” With her powerful painting ‘Where, When, How Often and with Whom’ as the point of departure, the influential British-born painter Cecily Brown here discusses how the sense of fragmentation in her work reflects her perception of our contemporary world.
“I never think of painting as a cathartic thing, but I definitely think it’s a way of processing things.” Brown feels that one of the reasons why she became a painter, is that she wants to respond to the things she sees, and she attributes the sense of fragmentation, which pervades her work, to having lived in New York for 25 years: “The experience of living in a very busy city inevitably feeds into the way I see things and understand them.” Her paintings are made by drawing partly on the things lying around her in the studio, and she feels these many different images feed into her work both directly and indirectly. The central image in her painting ‘Where, When, How Often and with Whom’ is based on a disturbing news photograph of a Muslim woman on the beach in Nice in 2016, who was forced to remove her burkini (a bathing suit respecting Islamic rules of female modesty) by four police officers: “It’s just a very violent image and seems very eloquent about our times.” Moreover, she feels that the many bystanders are part of what makes the photos so disquieting: “These white tourists are all just sitting around observing… they appear as complicit voyeurs.” Voyeurism, Brown continues, has always been a huge part of her work, where there’s nearly always a watching figure. In continuation of this, Brown adds that the figures in her painting can be seen to be unaware of each other though they are in the same physical space. This, she feels, is also the case in our world, where many people are so caught up in their phones, that they hardly notice each other: “One of the incredibly sad things about our time is how isolated people are.”
Cecily Brown (b. 1969) is a British painter. Brown creates vivid, atmospheric depictions of fragmented bodies, often in erotic positions in the midst of swells of colour and movement. This has made many compare her to painters such as Francis Bacon and Francisco Goya, and she is furthermore credited as one of the central figures in the resurgence of painting since the turn of the century. Brown has exhibited extensively, including at The Saatchi Gallery in London and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Solo shows have also been held at prominent venues such as Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, New York and London, Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin and Kunsthalle in Mannheim. She lives and works in New York City.
Cecily Brown was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark in November 2018 in connection with the exhibition ‘Where, When, How Often and with Whom.’ In the video, Brown discusses her triptych painting ‘Where, When, How Often and with Whom’ (2017).
Camera: Klaus Elmer
Edited by: Klaus Elmer
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2018
Supported by Nordea-fonden
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[@nochnoipetux]

Cecily Brown is one of those rare cases of a superstar artist that fully deserves all the accolades and veneration she receives. Beautiful work.

[@EttieL3209]

Cecily is a virtuoso. She has encouraged me to find my own voice as a painter-and I did! Thanks for sharing your talent with the world-your art is priceless and you deserve the recognition.

[@steveb2145]

wonderful.....you can tell she enjoys painting..so humble and honest...

[@shooshstar]

She made perfect sense to me. Great painting, would have loved to see more of her work .

[@austinhill5825]

She's a queen. Honestly one of my favorite artists ever

[@cameronkrause4712]

I like the fact that she is willing to speak about her convictions, and how her convictions influence her artistically. Brown is a focussed light in a world of vague, dark clouds.

[@oliverpaukson8849]

I am absolutely blown away by her work- just incredible!

[@Heyreneesews]

She’s so inspiring and interesting. Thank you

[@om-nj2hw]

Love her work, loved listening to this interview.

[@chill8375]

Adore her and her work. Beautiful painting

[@dorismugherli8191]

Awesome description of her work!

[@davidcunningham7071]

This is such a powerful presentation. Thank You.

[@lu_re7198]

Wish they would have shown more of her paintings.

[@ai-man212]

Brilliant. "His Load" is my favorite of her source material. lol.

[@creativeartbyluvensky]

This is a great interview!

[@georgegasmatron1]

Those were 12:22 minutes well spent. I could be listening to her for hours.

[@cirimaxg651]

For me, one of the greatest painters

[@hollyjhager]

Love it when an artist really expresses the why of their work like this!

[@artseventy7channel280]

I Love Cecily 💓

[@liova22]

I saw her "cancan" in Cummer museum today. It is very impressive.

[@steakkidneypie767]

She is such a painter

[@cecilybrennan4346]

Cecily Brown is a magnificent painter, it's fascinating to hear her talk about content and process. I so wished that she had referred to, in the context of shipwreck as a subject matter, the ever present tragedy and death toll suffered by economic and political migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea as well as being a response to The Raft of the Medusa by Géricault. Another wonderful painting. It's a great interview.

[@GiantArtProductions]

they should all be sent back immediately tbh

[@thomascreeley867]

I felt it was implicit--the modern-day shipwrecks.

[@CreatorsHub07]

Wow very nice

[@celestialteapot309]

I laughed and went back to the paintings no one will ever see.

[@roshanakm.h334]

What is her advice/ feedback to the emerging artist?

[@GiantArtProductions]

be a generic radlib and get ahead in the woke artworld

[@edabreu7871]

Why does so much modern art need to justify the artist's personal social, sexual, and inner yearnings, discoveries, and turmoils? We all suffer, anguish our daily existence, our common powerlessness. Some make paintings, some make shoes. What makes one person's mark making on a canvas more special than another's? While there are quality of degrees of craft, it alone cannot be the measure of a work of art. How much does who you know and who you do matter? How much is just luck? How much a great sales job? What is the standard by which future generations venerate a work of art as eternally relevant? Or is it, as many have noted, just the best money laundering scheme ever devised? How many truly great artists just walked away and pursued their personal journey in anonymity, to finally step into oblivion on their own terms, beholding to no one, and leaving behind their art works to friends and family? It all makes me wonder why some people need to justify their feelings of uniqueness over others. "if everyone is unique, then no one is unique". Is that just too much for people to accept? People want utopia, but are unwilling to pay the price of complete oneness with everything and everyone around them; and by doing so, walk into anonymity and oblivion together. Maybe it is time to start all over? Or maybe just have public orgies every other Tuesday? Yea, we all see the shit going on around us. Don't you think most of us just want to scream!! Is burning it all down the answer? Who do you think buys art at this level? Those who made the rules and policies that sent the police onto the beach are the ones who buy these works at exorbitant prices! So, what's the point? Is it just another way to make a living by selling the hype on one hand, and taking the cash on the other? Humanity loves a good mind fuk, always has. Maybe always will? So, is there a kind of art that while interesting, has no real values except to the artist. So, if you know the right people you can make it all pay off? Fascinating that it can all be gone in an instant if you piss the wrong person off or if you push too hard. I read somewhere that sacrifice was humanity's greatest power. So, what have you sacrificed lately? What does it mean to make a sacrifice? : the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone. Give up fame and fortune? Give up being the "most unique"? If all museums periodically destroyed each work after 1 year of exhibiting them, would that make more room for everyone to exhibit for a time. Forget 15 minutes. How about 1 year? Fame and fortune for 1 year. Would that be satisfactory to humanity? Each year, 10% of all the artists are selected to receive. Then after 1 yr, their work is destroyed, and new artists are selected. The old artists go back to just working in anonymity, and walk into oblivion willingly, having enjoyed their moment in the sun. Sound dystopian? What's bothering everyone, really? Is it that the woman on the beach violated the rules, or that she lived her life without knowing there were rules? Can utopia exist without rules? There are so any artists who go out each day and paint outdoors, without drama or fan fare, and struggle to sell their paintings, and focus on the simple task of placing the perfect stroke of paint on a canvas, knowing full well that such a thing cannot exist; all the while suffering the knowledge that anonymity and oblivion is theirs.

[@nanamanjavidze2720]

Agree, she is annoying ,and she draws better than paints

[@gesudinazaret9259]

If her works are liked ,it’s because they speak to an intimate side present in the enjoyers of her works ,I can often see and feel myself in cecily’s works ,thats why I think it’s important to see and hear the person ,to let us know who is the carrier of a message that touches us deeply

[@meladversity]

artists =/= art market

[@Deelynn-woohoo]

Love her style and amazing talent. Personally, I never enjoy political pov's from a musician, artist, or actor- let their work speak for itself and be capable of appreciation by 100% of the country, rather than immediately offending half the population. Beliefs sre fine, but art of all kinds should rise above it all. Her art is amazing.

[@neoaureus]

Her pendant says "Resist"....

[@davypaul9827]

Its even got worse. Referring to the ending of this video and how isolated people have become. I laugh, cause I cant cry...anymore.

[@CreatorsHub07]

i like

[@markorubenstein]

Phones are not 'obviously' the death of society and culture, she uses phones and uses social media and it seems to work for her. maybe people with headphones are listening to their uni lecture or some informative podcast, or heavy scremo music. its just another device to get information of all types out there. there is obvious issues with technology as there has been ethical issues all through the ages. but to make a blanket statement like that kinda needs a little more thought. otherwise, her work is amazing.

[@AkwaIbomDoll]

@Charming Billy the truth is a hard pill to swallow 🤣

[@AkwaIbomDoll]

she’s lovely!

[@paulterl4563]

I believe that the fact it was a woman is not central, it could have been a man they could had acted the same. Pardon my french, i think that you can get what I wanna say.

[@freshbarofsoap]

she says that "photo was violence" proves she has never witnessed true violence in the world

[@Americansikkunt]

I can’t take ANYONE serious, when they describe objective reality so incorrectly. She really described the pictures as “violent”....C’mon man!

[@prashaleegaikwad1133]

intelligence

[@Sjoepiewa]

Great painting, but: burqa and burkini, and the niqab, are forbidden by law in France, so the woman is trespassing.....

[@Goths-On-The-Beach]

She makes great art sometimes though it’s better to view the work on its own merit. Politically I’m probably the opposite of this woman and found the link she made to the burka and feminism a bit laughable. But in the words of Jean michel basqiat ‘would you ask miles Davies why his horn sounds the way it sounds? No you just enjoy it....

[@scarredcobra]

So this is what Dave Grohl has been doing after Nirvana.

[@zenmetaldecor]

Lacks harmony

[@conversacionesconmipadre]

Why did I ever leave my painting career in kindergarten? I could have made millions, oh well...

[@MS-mp9om]

There's always time to start again :)

[@kitlow2970]

so many bad takes

[@w.taylor6604]

The work seems confused and struggles between abstraction and figuration. This piece seems like a poor pastiche of De Kooning. The drawings have zero relation to the paintings, is she doing them to say look I can draw a bit? A lot of the marks have a superficial quality, they don't seem to add anything, all very busy, like a guitarist shredding without a song. Masaccio? Give me a break.

[@roybrewer6583]

Interesting talk, it's just a pity that someone has smeared her painting while its still wet 😮 😂😂😂 Superstar 😂 I don't think so, only in her own mind. 😂

[@johncastle8254]

Very confused paintings by very confused person

[@josephgaribaldi4340]

Boring Two types of control : Overt, can be seen, criticized and even resisted. the other more insidious Where the victims willing accept and internalize the controlling dictate, believing it is their free choice ... both were present on that beach! But you Brown reacted to the surface overt control only but not to the insidious control ... mediocrity empowered

[@GiantArtProductions]

the French have every right to control their destiny and preserve their culture, did Brown ever paint western tourists getting arrest for exposure on beaches in the middle east? it happens all the time.

[@josephgaribaldi4340]

@lionstanding The victims are those who believe that it's the "machinations" and not manipulative humans stacking the deck .... always for their self-profiting and self-aggrandizing spot in the scheme of things ... enjoy kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5etiJSrirJkmqM just in case ... she really is playing ... not jacking off on "victimhood'

[@josephgaribaldi4340]

​@lionstanding Told you she is playing...But exactly: Degrade the Culture of Control politics, Culture of Victim politics, the Culture of Fear politics and the Culture of Shame politics. The parasites of PC ( political coprophagia) culture have been gormandizing on these Politics of Abuse ... Pc = Cp + Vp + Fp + Sp. the associations of "machinations" makes it appear mysterious, impenetrable, and hard to overcome ...when in fact it's ordinary, everyday, mundane people fabricating conditions to justify their presumed stature and self-import. META not POST! "fine-art" is now irrelevant, it's for the pre-covid19-older generations"