Making Bacon: BAGOFTI @ Dance Base

Famous for his tortured imagery and his controversial life, Francis Bacon still haunts the imagination. Whether through his paintings at Tate Britain, or the magnified posters of his Portrait of Pope Innocent X in the Tube stations a couple of years ago, Bacon's painting define a very English, anguish.

Gary Clarke was so struck by the 2008 retrospective at Tate Britain that he decided to translate Bacon’s work into dance. “It was an intense experience. Whilst studying the work, I began to see movement and visceral images coming from the paint. I left the exhibition with the most painful migraine which stayed with me for days. I had never had a reaction or response to art in this way and I knew then I had to make this work”.

In collaboration with friend and performer Gavin Coward, Clarke choreographed Bagofti, which stands for “Bold, Austere, Graphic and OFten Torturous Imagery”, after Wikipedia’s definition of the artist’s work. A 17-minute solo dance, Bagofti “moves through a landscape of images which is then fused with the loneliness and loss that Bacon often portrayed in his work."

Both fans of Bacon, Clarke and Coward worked together on Bagofti. “We decided that it would be a solo for Gavin who had never graced the stage alone. It would be a challenge for him”. Clarke and Coward trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and are currently members of balletLORENT, based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Like Bagofti, much of Clarke’s work is complex and profound. His dance shows often tackle social issues: Coal, for example, deals with the realities of the mining industry and the miserable life of mine workers, while his 2006 piece Horsemeat explores the “gritty realities surrounding love, life, sexuality and growing up”.

Bagofti is a compelling solo performance that tries to convey the overwhelming emotions of Bacon’s paintings. As Bagofti, ‘a lost soul’, dances and stops in sculpture-like poses on stage, Bacon’s paintings seem to come alive, with their distorted faces and painfully anguished expressions. Bagofti is as demanding and affecting as the original paintings.