“I'm trying to be in a space between abstraction and figuration... The place I'm interested in is where my mind goes when it's trying to make up for what isn't there. When something is just suggested."
T he title Are You Weary, Are You Languid? derives its name from a Christian hymn attributed to Saint Stephen of Mar Saba. Brown is known for imbuing her titles with references with popular culture, and thus they often derive from titles of movies, songs, and other works most commonly intended for mass consumption, reflecting Brown’s characteristic “taste for popular entertainment in its vivacious vulgarity.” (Dore Ashton, Cecily Brown, New York, 2008, p. 14). The original hymn is known as follows:
Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid,
Are You Sore Distressed?
“Come To Me,” Says One, “And, Coming,
Be At Rest.”
Has He Marks To Lead Me To Him,
If He Be My Guide?
“In His Feet And Hands Are Wound-Prints,
And His Side.”
Is There Diadem, As Monarch,
That His Brow Adorns?
“Yes, A Crown, In Very Surety,
But Of Thorns.”
If I Find Him, If I Follow,
What His Promise Here?“
Many A Sorrow, Many A Labour,
Many A Tear.”
If I Still Hold Closely To Him,
What Has He At Last?
“Sorrow Vanquished, Labour Ended,
Jordan Passed.”
If I Ask Him To Receive Me,
Will He Say Me Nay?
“Not Till Earth And Not Till Heaven
Pass Away.”
Finding, Following, Keeping, Struggling,
Is He Sure To Bless?
“Saints, Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs
Answer Yes.”
In Are You Weary, Are You Languid?, painting works like poetry with each stroke of pigment flowing into the next. Rose joins with bright turquoise, forest green and lavender, heather grey and creamy brown, burnt sienna and peachy orange. Brown’s painting engages the viewer in a full body experience, as texture and hue arouse poignant sensorial memories.
IMAGE © THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART / ART RESOURCE, NY
ART © ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK / ADAGP, PARIS
The weather in Brown’s arcadia is equal parts cool and dewy—like an early morning— and hot and humid—like midsummer noon. Art critic Dore Ashton describes how Brown constructs her desirable worlds, “For a painter, a painting is a place. The whole meaning of illusion lies there, in creating the reality of a place within which the regard of the viewer is absorbed and rendered other. Brown herself is the first viewer, always susceptible to the enchantments of the density of paint, of color, as they perform events on the canvas surface. Most of Brown’s work evolves serially. She may have as many as ten canvases that she visits, like a bee seeking nectar, placing a stroke or several strokes on one canvas, before moving on to another, and another. In each move lies a quest, and in each brush stroke lies a promise” (Dore Ashton, “Cecily Brown En Route,” 2008, p. 20).
