Brimming with gestural, thick brushstrokes that dance across the canvas, The Fox and Geese (2008-2011) is a dynamic example from Cecily Brown’s acclaimed oeuvre which shifts between the abstract and the figurative. Known for her masterful manipulation of paint into flesh, Brown’s canvases appear in continual flux, with forms and figures appearing and dissolving into the mass of richly impastoed paint. Executed just two years after her major solo retrospective at the Museum of Replica Handbags in Boston in 2006, The Fox and Geese embodies Brown’s stylistic development, evocative of an artist who has hit their stride.

In The Fox and Geese, Brown scatters tactile elements of red and orange amongst darker earth tones of green, brown and grey, conjuring animalistic forms of foxes and geese, depicted in a blur of energy and apparent confrontation. Significantly, Brown’s first major series in the mid-1990s focused on animals, particularly rabbits, engaged in various nefarious activities, attracting the attention of collects ors and critics alike. Although the artist has since focused more on representing the human form in her highly gestural canvases, Brown continues her portrayal of animals in this work, delving into themes of desire, life and death. Perhaps a reference to the Grimms’ Fairy Tale of a similar name, The Fox and The Geese, fox-like forms appear and dissolve in Brown’s The Fox and Geese amongst the mass of green brushwork, patches of fur and a bushy tail visible amongst streaks of white and grey, evocative of geese. Further conjuring the idea of birds and wings, Brown makes grooves in the wet paint, arousing the delicate structure of feathers. Known for her dramatic portrayal of climactic scenes, it is possible that the viewer is witnessing a fox amongst geese—hunter versus prey—engaged in a fight for survival.

Cecily Brown has infatuated the international art world with her large-scale canvases of expressionistic brushstrokes, drawing upon a range of art historical references while establishing a style that is distinctly her own. Since her move to New York in 1994, the artist’s career continues to grow to new heights, and her work is held by numerous prominent institutions around the world, including Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Replica Handbags s, Boston; Tate Gallery, London; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. As exemplified by The Fox and Geese, Brown’s disorienting compositions create novel realities imbued with movement, establishing a new visual vocabulary that has solidified the artist’s status as one of the most important painters working today.

在塞西麗．布朗的《狐狸和鵝》中，充滿動感的濃重筆觸躍然於畫布之上。這幅活潑生動的畫作完美地呈現了布朗備受讚譽、游走於抽象與具象之間的藝術風格。布朗以用顏料模擬肉體的精湛運色技巧而聞名，而她筆下的人物和軀體在厚塗的顏料堆中若隱若現，令畫面彷彿在無止境地流動。本作創作於2008年，是藝術家2006年於波士頓美術館舉行大型個人回顧展後的第二年，因此本作體現了她在藝術創作路途上接續昂然邁進的步伐，亦讓人一探其風格發展的軌跡。

在《狐狸和鵝》中，布朗在綠、棕、灰等沉鬱的大地色調中揮灑觸動感官的紅色與橙色，巧妙地描繪出狐狸與鵝的形體，並呈現出當中的生命力及兩種動物之間對立的張力。值得留意的是，布朗1990年代中期的首個大型創作系列亦是以動物——尤其是兔子為主題，這些動物們彷彿都在幹壞事，畫面雖然模糊、卻撩撥人的好奇心，因此獲得不少收藏家和藝評家的注意。其後，布朗逐漸改為集中描繪人體，但本作仍以動物為主題，並從中探討慾望及生死。本作標題《狐狸和鵝》與格林童話其中一則故事的名字相約，畫面中貌似狐狸的形體在層層堆疊的綠色筆觸中時隱時現；從白色和灰色的斑紋中，隱約可見一片片毛皮和豐盈的尾巴，令人想起鵝的形態。布朗以濕潤的顏料在畫布上營造獨特的紋理，呈現羽毛輕盈精緻的質感，模糊地描繪出雀鳥及翅膀的姿態。布朗擅長以充滿戲劇性的手法闡述刺激的場景，而本作正為觀眾上演狐狸對鵝——即獵人對獵物——的一場生死大戰。

塞西麗．布朗憑著富於表現力的巨型畫作，以及引述古今藝術作品而創作出的獨特風格，令國際藝壇為之傾倒。自1994年移居紐約後，她的藝術事業屢創高峰，作品獲全球享負盛名的藝術機構收藏，包括洛杉磯當代藝術博物館、波士頓美術館、倫敦泰特美術館和紐約惠特尼美術館。一如《The Fox and Geese》所見，布朗以蕩人心魄的筆觸建構出動感洋溢的奇妙現實，創立了全新的視覺語彙，足證她作為當今其中一位最有實力的畫家的地位。