Abnormality in Art
"Abnormality, in the sense of something deviating from the normal or differing from the typical is a subjectively defined behavioral characteristic, assigned to those with rare or dysfunctional conditions." (Wikipedia)

This essay will focus on abnormality in Art and will look at how this topic has been approached in different ways. This essay will look at several artists and their interpretation of abnormality, whether it be through paintings, sculpture or another form this essay will explore the different mediums and the different ways that they express their ideas of abnormailty. Artists that will be looked at in this essay are Mieke Teirlinck who painted Francis, Jenny Saville who painted Host and John Issacs who sculpted I Can't Help The Way I Feel. I have decided to look at these pieces because I feel that they give a good demonstration of abnormality and can really help me focus on the point that I wish to make, which is the different ways in Art that abnormality has been protrayed.

‘Francis’ by Mieke Teirlinck was painted as part of the BP Portrait Award in the National Gallery for 2009. After training as a teacher she studied part time at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bruges. Her work has been exhibited throughout Belgium has been shown in both solo and group and was also commissioned to paint twenty-one portraits in 2002 for the organisers of the Bruges Cultural Capital of Europe. This painting is actually of Francis, a real person who lives in a residential home for people with disability in Bruges. This was just one of a series of portraits of the people who live the residence and they had to sit for fifteen hours while she painted them. She said “I didn’t know any of them and connecting with them became the most interesting experience”. When doing some more research on the internet about this artist I managed to come across their website and saw that they had painted may people that all looked as if they had something wrong with then, maybe an abnormality in their characteristics, but something that made them stand out from other people. This piece, Francis, was painted with oil onto a piece of canvas.

The fact that the piece is created on such a small surface makes the piece a bit more interesting as it makes it more intense to the eye. It's very hard for the viewer to focus on anything else except the model due to the lack of space around him he cannot avoided and therefore seeing that something is wrong with him cannot be avoided either, which makes the viewer becoming a little more aware of his abnormality.
The colours that are used in the image are all very tonal like and give the viewer a real sense that Teirlinck was painting from real life and could make the viewer feel more connected with the piece and maybe more curious about it, wanting to know the history of it.


‘Host’ by Jenny Saville was based on a novel by Marie Darrieussecq called Pig Tales. This is the story of a woman who finds herself slowing turning into a pig and Saville manages to paint the affective belly of the lady-swine, ripe and swollen for suckling. This was painted as oil on canvas, was 305 x 457cm and was created in 2000. This piece, similar to Teirlinck's work, also uses very tonal colours that also give of a very fleshy, skin-type look.