Study after the portrait of a Pope

Denis SANGLARD: performance
Blas PAYRI: filmmaking, postproduction and music.

This video-art piece features butô dancer Denis Sanglard, and uses butô characteristics to generate the performance. The work draws inspiration from the intense studies conducted by Francis Bacon after Diego Velázquez’s iconic portrait of Pope Innocent X. Blas Payri combines video recording, video editing, postproduction techniques, and an original musical score to delve into the mysterious deformations of Bacon’s faces.
The central theme revolves around the exploration of transformation, both physical and emotional, as depicted in Bacon’s works. Denis Sanglard, adorned with a purple or red biretta reminiscent of Pope Innocent X, becomes the vessel through which the enigmatic distortions and emotions are expressed. The use of the biretta, a symbolically charged accessory from Velázquez’s original portrait, serves as a bridge between historical and contemporary contexts, linking the viewer to the rich artistic lineage while pushing the boundaries of visual interpretation. Through a series of carefully choreographed movements, Sanglard’s facial expressions and positions undergo a metamorphosis, echoing the haunting visual language of Bacon.
Payri employs advanced video editing techniques to enhance the visual experience, overlaying multiple instances of Sanglard’s image with various options, including subtracting, difference, and light combination effects. Motion blur effects are strategically applied to the moving face, creating a dynamic and surreal visual narrative. The result is a dance between reality and abstraction, capturing the essence of Bacon’s obsession with the human form and the underlying emotional intensity.

Blas Payri is a sound and video artist, creating abstract works or pieces involving the human body in movement. He explores the interrelations of music and image in the audiovisual medium. He is a professor of audiovisual communication and postproduction at Universitat Politècnica de València.

Other portraits of the Pope in order to make a video installation.