Reverberating with a tantalizing choreography of enflamed painterly gestures, Cecily Brown’s Summerstorm is a masterful work exemplifying the artist’s prodigious fusion of rich gestural abstraction and figurative allusion. With voluptuous swathes of fleshy earth tones laced with azure corals, translucent turquoise and ochre red, Summerstorm shifts deftly between the abstract and the figurative, conjuring elusive forms of body and flesh. Brown’s feverish brushstrokes, executed with a bravura in line with the very best of her distinct style, engage the vernacular of painting itself, capitalising on the sensuality of the medium and its ability to playfully manipulate the viewer’s perception through descriptive possibilities. As with the very best examples of Brown’s corpus, Summerstorm illuminates the magical potential of paint to unpack the admixture of sensorial faculties that makes up our human experience of seeing. With its fleshy earth tones, the present work invites viewers to consume its luscious forms, fulfilling the artist’s desire – viewing her works “should be a pleasurable, even a hedonistic experience” (the artist in conversation with Lari Pitman in Cecily Brown, New York, 2008, p. 27).

Executed in 2000, Summerstorm represents an early foray into tackling the human figure in her paintings and draws judiciously upon art historical precedent, incorporating influences of Baroque Classicism, Impressionism, Proto-Cubism, and Abstract Expressionism. As evident in the present painting Brown unabashedly invokes the flourishes, gestures, and moods of a long line of predecessors, from Rubens' flamboyance to Francis Bacon's dark-spirited Expressionism to Willem de Kooning's angry, sexualised abstractions. Perhaps most evidently, Brown’s visual language and handling of pigment and paint is informed by the gestural mark-making of the American Abstract Expressionists. However, unique to Brown’s abstract vernacular is her allegiance to the potential of the figurative; in the artist’s words: “It’s this total back-and-forth between my will and the painting directing what to do next. Things just naturally break down and become more abstract. When things get too abstract, I definitely feel like I want to bring the figure back. There is a line that I'm always striving for that's not half-way between figuration and abstraction, it is both. It's almost like pulling a moment of claritys in the middle of all the chaos.’ (the artist cited in “New York Minute: Cecily Brown”, AnOther, 14 September 2012).

Through the sensuality of its painted surface, Summerstorm exhibits the implied human presence inherent to Brown’s distinctive style. The painting’s infinite variations in sheen, tone and brushstroke – ranging from quick horizontal streaks, broad flourishes, thick drips, to coiled skeins – bring the eye to wander the canvas’ vast surface. As such, the viewer is “susceptible to the enchantments of the density of paint, of color, as they perform events on the canvas surface” (Ibid., p. 20). Pushing the boundaries of both painterly application and loaded subject matter, Summerstorm is a work of immense complexity and breadth that superbly encapsulates the core essence of Brown’s distinctive painterly style. A visceral and commanding exploration of painting’s elusive power of suggestion, the piece encapsulates the ethos of Brown’s singular artistic project. Its evocation of human flesh through bold gesture and vivid color perfectly illustrates the artist’s reflection that she wants “there to be a human presence without having to depict it in full” (the artist in conversation with Lari Pittman in Dore Ashton, Cecily Brown, New York, 2008, p. 28). Wholly irresistible, Summerstorm engages the medium of painting itself, capitalizing on the sensuality of her materials and ability to playfully manipulate the viewer’s perception through descriptive possibilities.

繪畫動勢編成撩撥人心的舞蹈，迴盪畫中，塞西麗・布朗的這幅《夏日風暴》技藝精湛，示範了藝術家如何完美揉合抽象的動勢和具象的影射。畫中央豐厚柔和的色塊混和肉色和大地色彩，其上點綴了蔚藍的珊瑚色、澄澈的碧綠色和赭紅色，《夏日風暴》靈巧地在抽象和具象之間變換轉移，令人隱約聯想到軀幹和肉體。布朗狂熱奔放的筆觸，藉精湛的技藝表現出極致，貫徹她別樹一幟的創作風格，接合繪畫本身的習俗，她充分利用此媒介給人帶來的官能感受和能力，通過各種不加判斷的可能性，巧妙操控觀者的感知。一如布朗的其他上佳之作，《夏日風暴》也闡明了顏料的神奇潛能，解構組成人類觀察體驗的官能感受。此畫作的光澤、色調和筆觸——如敏捷的橫向條紋、寬廣的色塊、濃重的水滴，以至捲作一團的毛線狀——變化多端，讓觀者目不暇給。如是者，觀者「一不留神就著了迷，只好臣服於正在畫布上獻技的顏料麾下」（同上註，頁20）。

2000年的作品《夏日風暴》，代表著布朗早期在畫作中描繪人物形象的嘗試，她明智地借鑒了藝術歷史上的先例，融匯巴洛克古典主義、印象派、原始立體主義和抽象表現主義的影響。從魯本斯的浮華風格、弗朗西斯・培根陰暗的表現主義，以至威廉・德庫寧那暴烈、充滿情慾氣息的抽象畫作，布朗在本作中毫不保留地表現這些藝術先捷的姿彩、動勢與情緒。更明顯的是，布朗的視覺語彙與處理顏料色彩的手法，正源自美國抽象表現主義藝術家創作的動勢痕跡。然而，布朗抽象風格的獨特之處，在於她在畫中結合具象的潛質。如藝術家自述：「我的心思意志搖擺不定，而繪畫指引我下一步如此前進。事物自然地分裂瓦解，變得更加抽象。當事物過於抽象，我便要尋回當中的具象形體。我向來致力於一個方向──具象與抽象之間沒有中間點，而是兩者兼收並容。這就像在紛亂之中挽回清晰時刻」（引自藝術家，<紐約時刻：塞西麗・布朗>，《AnOther》，2012年9月14日）。

《夏日風暴》通過畫布上的姿彩，迸發觀者的官能感受，隱晦地展現人的存在，此特色為布朗的創作風格中所固有的。本作以肉色和大地色彩創造了甘美的形體，邀請觀眾將之享用，這正合藝術家的心意——觀看她的作品「應該是愉悅、甚至狂歡縱樂的體驗」（引述自藝術家與拉里・皮特曼的對話，《塞西麗・布朗》，紐約，2008年，頁27）。《夏日風暴》突破繪畫手法與豐富主題的界限，展現無窮複雜性與寬廣領域，充分體現布朗獨特風格的精髓。繪畫的隱喻力量難以言明，本作對此課題的探索說明了布朗在藝術上的奇異信條。畫作中大膽的動勢、鮮豔的色彩，引起人對於肉體浮想聯翩，這恰好闡明了藝術家的反思，她所追求的是「不需明確刻畫人，而人的確就在那兒」（引述自藝術家與拉里・皮特曼的對話，多爾・阿什頓，《塞西麗・布朗》，紐約，2008年，頁28）。《夏日風暴》運用繪畫媒介的自身特點，充分利用材料所能引起的官能感受，以各種非慣例的方式巧妙操控觀者的感知，其魅力實在難以抵擋。