Lauren Brown
A body without a birth
Oil on Canvas. 120 x 90 cm

A body without a birth

4:3 in dimension, the perfect 4th ratio, but here a portal into an eternal abattoir. Floating centrally and dominating the foreground is the eponymous form. A vertebral column coiling to the lower right, appendages and entrails in strokes of muddied pink curling first to the centre right but then pulled left as if by some unseen gravity. Beige coloured organs lie exposed at the lower centre. Its a vision of humanity stripped to its mortal components.

Bold linear strokes in an infernal palette are combined with areas of more nebulous application. Claret red restraints in the upper left appearing as dried blood bind the forming figure in place. The sense of chaos, our attention directed upon various trajectories portrays a moment not in time but spacetime - a scene spanning aeons. White flecks are a respite from the tumult of reds and orange.

In the upper left the distant furnace is clearly seen. Flesh cast upon fire in recurrent immolation and incarnation. Bodies dissipating and recombining. The complete loss of divine connection - Poena Damni - coupled to the extreme gratification sought and inflicted by the Cenobites:

Pleasure was pain there, and vice versa.
And he knew it well enough to call it home.

The Hellbound Heart (1986) - Clive Barker

Displayed as part of a solo exhibition 'Scene X: Lauren Brown, Aftermath' at Matt Carey-Williams at Porchester Place, 15 April - 23 May 2025.