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The Journal
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Journal
'A music industry on their knees': Organiser says smaller festivals need government support
GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO step in to help support smaller, independent music festivals in Ireland, according to Philip Meagher, founder of music festival Forest Fest. The festival, which returns to Emo, Co. Laois for its fourth year this weekend, will see Franz Ferdinand, the Manic Street Preachers, Travis and Orbital headline the main stage, while many up-and-coming Irish acts will be supporting. 'A lot of people in the music industry are literally on their knees because of the spiralling costs involved. Without the proper support structure in place, it's hard to see a future for the smaller, independent festivals going forward,' said Meagher. His comments come as other music festival organisers in Ireland have said that mounting costs are making it harder for them to keep going each year. There has been calls for the Department of Culture to roll out a 'more transparent' funding model for grants which many organisers say would help to safeguard the future of smaller festivals. Earlier this month there was confusion about whether major player Beyond The Pale would go ahead, while a number of beloved smaller festivals are not going ahead this summer, including Sea Sessions, Body and Soul, and Wild Roots. 'Extremely challenging' 'It is extremely challenging and the costs associated with putting on an event of this type and size are astronomical,' Meagher told The Journal. It is time now for the government to 'look at supporting smaller festivals around the country to assist with that cost', he said, adding that these festivals give opportunities for young bands in the country. 'It gives them an outlet to perform in front of large audiences. Without the independent festivals, there isn't that route for bands because the more established, bigger festivals don't seem to curate their events around the younger, up-and-coming acts. So we'd like to think we play an important part in that,' he said. 'It would be money very well invested by the government, because they get a huge return from the point of view of tourism, from the point of view of the catering industries [and from] the music industry itself,' he added. Advertisement Earlier this year, the government announced a Small Scale Local Festivals grant of €5,000. 'That wouldn't even pay for a water tanker,' commented Meagher, who believes the government need to dig deeper. Concert goers at Forest Fest in Laois Over-35s not hanging up their festival wellies just yet Meagher explains that unlike some of the larger festivals in Ireland this summer, Forest Fest is geared towards an 'older demographic'. In the era of 'day-clubbing' events, where those in their mid-thirties and above are hitting the nightclubs during daylight hours, Meagher said that the older generation is not hanging up its festival wellies just yet either. 'The whole idea is to provide a top end festival for an older demographic. I just found that a lot of festivals are geared more towards the 20 to 35 bracket, that there wasn't really a particularly designed event for the 35 and up demographic. 'So we basically set about raising an offering based on music of a particular generation, going back to the 80s, 90s, and also the best of the up-and-coming acts as well,' he said. Meagher said when people reach a 'certain age', where they might have had their families, they might have some free time now. 'They want to relive their youth and they're more than able to do it, they're well able to party and have a great time,' he said. RTÉ should broadcast from music festivals Showcasing Irish festivals by the national broadcaster is something Meagher said should also be considered, stating it would be a 'great idea' if RTÉ could broadcast from independent music festivals during the summer months. 'I've been watching the BBC coverage over the last number of years [of Glastonbury], it always makes for great television. And certainly I'd be very, very open to the national broadcaster visiting us and setting up on site. 'I think people would be very, very interested to be able to see behind the scenes at a festival and what exactly goes on and then to hear some live performances. I think it would be a wonderful idea,' said Meagher. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Forest Fest 2025: Daily line-ups, stage times, ticket information, weather and more
Forest Fest , a boutique independent music and arts festival, returns to the village of Emo in Co Laois this weekend for its third year. The event was established in 2022 by solicitor and indie-rock fan, Philip Meagher, when he envisaged a festival primarily targeted towards a more mature audience. The three-day festival has several music stages, a funfair with rides for all ages, circus shows, workshops, various art installations and a host of street entertainers. With about 20,000 people expected to attend the festival, a bit of planning can do no harm. Here is everything you need to know. READ MORE When and where is it on? The festival runs from Friday to Sunday in the village of Emo, Co Laois. Early entry for campers is available on Thursday. Are there any tickets left? At the time of writing, whole weekend, individual day admissions and camping tickets were still available. These can be purchased through the Forest Fest website . Buy tickets from accredited sources only and add yours to your phone's wallet before you leave home to keep it handy. Who is performing and when? Festivalgoers are spoiled for choice with a variety of acts scheduled to perform over the weekend. Headliners for this year include Franz Ferdinand , Manic Street Preachers , Orbital and The Stranglers . A host of Irish music acts are lined up across the other stages, including Pillow Queens , Ryan Sheridan, Dylan Flynn & The Dead Poets and Motionsickness. A number of tribute bands will feature too if you fancy a sing-a-long, with Live Forever Oasis, Qween, Daft Punk Tribute and The Complete Stone Roses all set to play. Check out the full line-up below. Friday, July 25th Franz Ferdinand's angular guitar music still wows crowds Main Stage Something Happens – 5pm-6pm Tom Meighan – 6.40pm-7.40pm Franz Ferdinand – 8.20pm-9.50pm The Dandy Warhols – 10.30pm-11.30pm Live Forever Oasis – midnight-1am The Village Stage Harvest – 5.30pm-6.30pm Cry Before Dawn – 7pm-8pm The 4 of Us – 8.30pm-9.30pm The Farm – 10pm-11pm Alabama 3 – 11.30pm-12.45am Daft Punk Tribute – 1am-2am The Perfect Day Stage The Jury – 4.40pm-5.25pm Shark School – 5.45pm-6.30pm The Jobseekerz – 6.50pm-7.35pm Intercom Heights – 7.55pm-8.40pm Seattle Grunge Experience – 9pm-9.45pm The Luna Boys – 10.05pm-10.50pm Risky Business – 11.10pm-11.55pm The Deadlians – 12.15am-1am Thin As Lizzy – 01.15am-2am Fleadh Stage Madra Salach – 4.20pm-5pm Meadhbh Hayes – 5.20pm-6pm Alltacht – 6.20pm-7.10pm CUA – 7.30pm-8.20pm Laura Jo – 8.40pm-9.30pm Moxie – 9.50pm-10.40pm Stocktons Wing – 11pm-midnight Ibiza Stage Lauren (Saxophone) – 4pm-2am Danny Kay Ibiza – 4pm-5pm Alan Professor – 5pm-6pm Gee Moore – 6pm-8pm Terry Farley – 8pm-10pm X-EXPRESS-2 – 10pm-midnight Gee Moore – midnight-2am Saturday, July 26th Sean Moore, Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers. Photograph: Alex Lake Main Stage Thumper – 12.40pm-1.40pm Aoife Destruction & The Nilz – 2.20pm-2.50pm Therapy? – 3.20pm-4.20pm Peter Hook & The Light – 5pm-6pm The Stranglers – 6.40pm-7.40pm Kula Shaker – 8.20pm-9.20pm Manic Street Preachers – 10pm-11.30pm Orbital – 12.15am-1.45am The Village Stage Dylan Flynn and The Dead Poets – 12.15pm-1pm The Coathanger Solution – 1.20pm-2.05pm These Charming Men – 2.30pm-3.30pm Dirty Blonde – 4pm-5pm Coach Party – 5.30pm-6.30pm Pillow Queens – 7pm-8pm Kerbdog – 8.30pm-9.30pm Reef – 10pm-11pm Teenage Fanclub – 11.30pm-12.40am The Riptide Movement – 1am-2am The Perfect Day Stage Houston Death Ray – 12.20pm-1.05pm Southern Freud – 1.25pm-2.10pm The Magic Mod – 2.30pm-3pm Kiera Dignam – 3.20pm-4.05pm Dopamine – 4.25pm-5.05pm Fake Friends – 5.25pm-6.05pm The Classic Beatles – 6.25pm-7.25pm Apollo Junction – 7.45pm-8.25pm The Manatees – 8.45pm-9.30pm Dutch Criminal Record – 9.50pm-10.35pm Post-Party – 10.55pm-11.40pm Walk The Line – midnight-1.30am Fleadh Stage Music Generation Laois Trad Orchestra – noon-12.45pm Chris Comhaill – 1.15pm-2pm Cormac Looby – 2.15pm-3pm The Oars – 3.15pm-4pm Kevin Coniff and The Dublin Trio – 4.15pm-5pm Buille – 5.15pm-6pm Eric De Buitléir – 6.15pm-7pm Mary Coughlan – 7.30pm-8.30pm The Sharon Shannon Trio – 9pm-10pm Beoga – 10.30pm-11.30pm KAN – midnight-1am VIP Stage The Magic Mud – 7pm-7.30pm The Legendary Drama Kings – 7.45pm-8.30pm Ibiza Stage Lauren (Saxophone) – noon-2am David H (Percussion) – noon-2am Danny Kay Ibiza – noon-1pm Nick Coles (Live Keys Hybrid Set) – 1pm-2pm Alan Prosser (12 Inch Thumpers) – 2pm-3pm Gee Moore – 3pm-5pm Mr C – 5pm-7pm Gee Moore – 7pm-9pm Jam El Mar (Jar and Spoon Classics) – 9pm-11pm DJ Pippi – 11pm-1am Gee Moore – 1am-2am Sunday, July 27th Main Stage Travis. Photograph: Steve Gullick Rattle and Hum – noon-1pm Nick Lowe – 1.30pm-2.30pm Bad Manners – 3.10pm-4.10pm Jack L – 4.50pm-5.50pm Tony Hadley – 6.30pm-7.50pm Travis – 8.30pm-10pm Qween – 11pm-midnight The Village Stage Ryan Sheridan – 12.15pm-1.05pm Paddy Casey – 1.35pm-2.25pm B–ngo Loco – 2.55pm-4.25pm Andrew Strong – 4.55pm-5.45pm Robert Finley – 6.15pm-7.15pm Hermitage Green – 7.45pm-8.45pm Billy Bragg – 9.15pm-10.30pm The Magic Numbers – 11pm-midnight The Perfect Day Stage MOA – 12.15pm-12.45pm Fizzy Orange – 1.05pm-1.45pm Thanks Mom – 2.05pm-2.45pm Strength in Numbers – 3.05pm-3.45pm Basht – 4.05pm-4.45pm Glasshouse Performs: The Velvet Underground – 5.05pm-5.50pm The Youth Play – 6.10pm-6.55pm Motionsickness – 7.15pm-8pm Pogueology – 8.20pm-9.05pm Grooveline – 9.25pm-10.10pm Sack – 10.30pm-11.20pm The Drive – 11.40pm-12.20am Fleadh Stage Set Dancing W Maureen Culleton & Irish Dancing from Scoil Rince Ni Anglais – noon-12.40pm Eva Coyle and Band – 1pm-2pm Sean Lyons and Eva Carroll – 2.30pm-3.15pm Frankie Gavin and De Dannan – 3.45pm-4.45pm Buioch – 5pm-5.45pm Niall McCabe – 6pm-7pm Freddie White – 7.30pm-8.30pm Hunger of the Skin: Brian Finnegan – 9pm-10pm The Complete Stone Roses – 10.20pm-11.30pm Ibiza Stage David H (Percussion) – noon-midnight Danny Kay Ibiza – noon-1pm Alan Prosser (12 Inch Thumpers) – 1pm-3pm DJ Sean – 3pm-3.40pm Nick Coles (Live Keys Hybrid Set) – 3.40pm-4.40pm Lange and The Morrighan – 4.40pm-6pm Gee Moore – 6pm-7pm Mr C (The Shamen) DJ Set and Live PA with David H – 7pm-10pm Gee Moore – 10pm-midnight What else is there to see and do? Apart from live music, Forest Fest has a variety of experiences on offer. Festivalgoers will have access to a drop-in circus workshop for children, a replica archeological dig site, food vendors offering cuisines from around the world, stands selling crafted goods and other items and shows by street performers. There will also be art installations from global artists. What time should I arrive? Early access for those camping and glamping will open on Thursday at 2pm. General camping opens at noon on Friday. For Friday day ticket holders the gates will open at 4pm. For Saturday and Sunday ticket holders the gates will open at noon. The festival arena will remain open until 1am each night. How do I get there? As with many festivals held in remote rural locations, it takes some planning to get there. By bus: Day return buses to Forest Fest will run from Dublin, Tullamore (via Geashill), Mountmellick/Portarlington, Kilkenny (via Carlow, Athy and Stradbally), Portlaoise and Cashel (via Horse and Jockey, Thurles, Urlingford, Cullahill, Durrow, Abbeyleix). You can buy a ticket on any of these day return buses from Forest Fest's website . By car: Forest Fest is easily accessible by car as it is only 5km away from the M7. Take Exit 15 and then follow signs for Emo and Mountmellick. There will be a free car park for all patrons of the festival. The walk from the car park to the venue is approximately 15-20 minutes. The organisers have said that there will be a shuttle bus from the car park to the venue available for patrons with mobility or accessibility needs. By train: There are regular hourly train services to Portlaoise and Portarlington railway stations and the festival will be served by local taxi and shuttle bus services. What if I'm camping? Unlike other festivals there does not seem to be an option to rent or buy your camping gear for the weekend, so it is best to come prepared. If you fancy paying more for accommodation you can book to glamp instead of camp and sleep in one of their pre-pitched tents. You can book them here . Toilets are dotted around the festival grounds and the campsite has a number of hot shower blocks. There will also be a designated concrete cooking area at the top of the campsite. This is the only area where stoves are permitted and the festival has a total ban on disposable barbecues. There will be a regular shuttle bus service for all campers to and from the campsite to the festival gate and all general amenities. What's security like? Forest Fest is open to people of all ages and all bags, cars and items are subject to search upon entry. There will be 24/7 security at the festival arena and campsite. Strictly no liquids are allowed into the festival arena, alcohol and other liquids will be confiscated or disposed of at the gate. The organisers have a list online of all items that will be confiscated if found and have said that gardaí will be notified about any illegal items and you may be removed from the festival as a result. Anything else? There will be spaces available to store medications which require refrigeration and there will also be free drinking water available on site, so make sure to bring a reusable bottle There will be phone charging points around the festival site and in the Glamping and VIP areas. How is the weather looking? It is forecast to be a cloudy start to Friday with scattered showers. As the day goes on these showers are expected to become more isolated with sunny spells developing. Highest temperatures of 16-20 degrees with moderate, occasionally fresh, westerly winds. There will be a good deal of dry weather on Saturday with sunny spells and showers. There is a chance of more persistent rain on Sunday, Met Éireann has said.
Irish Independent
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Five festivals in Laois not to be missed this summer
While Co. Laois is largely known for Electric Picnic and the Ploughing Championships, there is so much more on offer to help you sort your weekend plans for the next month and a half. Forest Fest Music and Arts Festival Forest Fest Music and Arts Festival is set to have five jam-packed stages of Indie music, Dance, Fleadh, International and Irish artists from July 25-28, 2025. Some of the weekend's headliners include Franz Ferdinand, Manic Street Preachers and The Stranglers alongside a major line-up of Irish artists from across Ireland including Pillow Queens, Dylan Flynn and the Dead Poets, Paddy Casey, Qween, Buíoch and Meadhbh Hayes. Tickets are still available with just two weeks to go until the festival, a single ticket for Friday is €85 and a weekend ticket is €150, more information can be found through Ossory Agricultural Show The Ossory Show promises a fun-filled day out for the whole family at the Ossory Showgrounds, Coolfin Rathdowney, Co. Laois on Sunday, July 27 2025. Attendees can expect an outing for the scrapbooks with over 300 competitive classes, vintage shows, live music , a truck show and much more. More details can be found at 61st National Steam Rally The countdown is on for one of Ireland's oldest and most loved heritage festivals as the 61st National Steam Rally makes its return to Stradbally, Co. Laois. There will be much to see and do over the bank holiday weekend kicking off on Saturday, August 2 with the Steam & Vintage Parade at 7pm. ADVERTISEMENT The rally has much to offer from majestic steam engines and vintage tractors, to music, crafts, trade stands, family attractions and more. Live music will take place throughout the weekend with the line-up set to feature Michael English, Robert Mizzell, Brendan Shine, Declan Nerney, Louise Morrissey, Olivia Douglas, Shawn Cuddy, and many more. There will also be a special gathering of International tractors, working displays, miniature steam, and live demonstrations, funfair rides, heritage exhibits, and family entertainment Whether you're a steam enthusiast, a music lover, or just looking for a great family day out, there's something for everyone at the National Steam Rally. Tickets are available at Laois Forest School Wellness Festival Attendees can looking forward to experiencing rejuvenation amidst nature's embrace at the Laois Forest School Wellbeing Festival over a weekend of holistic wellness including foraging, yoga, storytelling, and more, all set against the backdrop of the lush Doire Seoige oak forest on Saturday, August 9, 2025 Rosenallis Festival of the Mountain and Vintage Rally The Festival of the Mountain & Vintage Rally returns on Sunday, August 17, 2025 to Glenbarrow, Rosenallis, Co. Laois. Organisers have been busy behind the scenes as the festival field is said to have had an upgrade over the winter and is now significantly larger to host even more fun this year. From dog shows to free face-painting and amusements, there is something for everyone.
New Statesman
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Oasis are the greatest Irish band of all time
Photo byI t is fashionable – and easy – to lampoon Oasis. They were far from the most musically or lyrically inventive band of the 1990s (surpassed by peers such as Radiohead and the Manic Street Preachers). Their later albums were patchy, and Noel Gallagher still apologises for their most wayward live performances. When their reunion tour was announced a year ago, numerous critics predicted mediocrity or outright failure. That 14 million fans sought to buy tickets – with some paying upwards of £350 – was just further proof that you can't trust people. Oasis, then, arrived on stage at Cardiff's Principality Stadium for the first show of the tour as a band with a point to prove. Noel, in particular, wore the expression of a man still asking himself whether this was a good idea. It was. Liam Gallagher – the wildcard on whom an Oasis show hinges – sang with the intensity of a teenage frontman striving for a record deal. During the band's final years, his Lennon-Lydon sneer was sometimes reduced to a Kermit-like croak (in part the result of having Hashimoto's disease). But in Cardiff, the resurrection of the voice that reverberated through the Nineties was confirmed. When combined with Noel's falsetto, you are reminded just how this melodic superpower colonised the decade. The cynical charge is that the tour is a purely monetary exercise (the brothers are forecast to make around £100m each). Noel, who combines working-class Labourism with a Thatcherite attachment to success, has never disguised his enjoyment of wealth. Yet no band intent on merely going through the motions would play a song with the punk-like fury of 'Bring It On Down' ('You're the outcast, you're the underclass/But you don't care because you're living fast'). The setlist may have been weighted towards Definitely Maybe (1994) and (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) – the albums that produced the quasi-national anthems of 'Live Forever', 'Wonderwall' and 'Don't Look Back in Anger' – but the Gallaghers still did enough to dispel the myth that they recorded nothing of note after these two behemoths. 'D'You Know What I Mean?', with its Apocalypse Now visuals, has never sounded more menacing. 'Stand By Me', accompanied by a montage of family photos, rarely more moving. 'Little By Little' – the only post-2000 song played – prompts one of the biggest singalongs of the evening ('But my god woke up on the wrong side of his bed'). Such is the richness of the band's back catalogue that while five B-sides are played, five number one singles are not. There were many in attendance old enough to recall Oasis's first coming – aged 13, I witnessed their shambolic second Wembley Stadium show in 2000 – but there were also plenty of others who weren't even born then. In defiance of laddish stereotypes, it is teenage girls ('the Oasisters') who now comprise the band's most obsessive fanbase, daily advertising their devotion on X and TikTok. For a generation accustomed to anodyne pop stars, there is something thrilling about the discovery of Liam, who speaks in a voice that is unmistakably his own. In common with the likes of Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn, he serves a human yearning for authenticity. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Where do Oasis go from here? The band are insistent that no new material will be released – the Stone Roses, their Mancunian forebears, are one of many cautionary tales – and that this will be their final tour ('a lap of honour', in Noel's words). Their rebirth, as a year-old Labour government staggers, will inspire no shortage of reflections on national decline. Nostalgia for Britpop, already amplified by the return of Blur and Pulp, will reach new heights. But Oasis, subtly, stand apart from this trend. Behind Noel on stage was a largely unnoticed green 'Éirinn go brách' ('Ireland forever') flag. This, far more than his rarely played Union Jack guitar (which was long ago confined to a museum), is a clue to the band's real roots. All five of the original members are from Irish Catholic families; Gallagher has attributed Oasis's 'punch-the-air quality' to the rebel songs he heard played in the clubs of Manchester (recalling how his family were 'demonised' during the Troubles). Would an English Oasis have been possible? Noel, for one, believes not. 'Oasis could never have existed, been as big, been as important, been as flawed, been as loved and loathed, if we weren't all predominantly Irish,' he has said (having once declined the opportunity to write a song for the England football team). Here is a wicked irony. For a nation unsure of itself, Oasis are an enduring source of patriotic pride. This summer, as the tour reaches first Manchester and then London, commentators will muse on whether anything like 'Cool Britannia' could happen again. But while the Gallaghers, never ones for modesty, would agree that theirs is a national triumph, they would add that it is less an English than an Irish one. [See also: So you want to be Irish?] Related
The Guardian
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Portraits so powerful they override reality – Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting review
The posters and grand title of Jenny Saville's retrospective scream paint! – in red, pink and bruise colours – but you need to look at her exquisite drawings to get the measure of her. In Neck Study II a woman, eyes closed, holds up her head so we can study the curves and dips of flesh on her stretched neck. Saville notes these anatomical realities with a pencil in precise nuances of shading, also observing every contour of her face and the bones under her thin shoulders. It is beautiful. It is true. So what the hell – I thought – was she doing in the adjacent gallery where massively enlarged faces, pummelled by life and her art, are lit as harshly as flash photographs? They include her portrait of a boy with a bloodied beaten face, lip twisted, eyes dazed, used for the cover of a Manic Street Preachers album that was banned from supermarkets for being too disturbing. That was just a small reproduction. Here you are confronted by the colossal real thing, faces that truly get in your face. I ran away, at first, from this massive panorama of damage to look at some lovely drawings of motherhood in charcoal and pastel that take inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to create tender moments between mother and baby, the figures seen through clouds and storms of exploratory drawing suggesting ever-moving life. Through this turmoil she finds monumental moments of intimacy. In Study for Pentimenti IV a baby boy sits cockily on his pregnant mother's naked tummy: he'll always be top child. The tenderness continues, this time between consenting adults in bed. A white woman and her Black lover lie together in naked union, she placing a hand on his bare leg, feeling the flesh. In other scenes it's him holding her, or their heads at opposite ends of the bed, her foot feeling his ribs. In the most beautiful, charcoal is immersed in a pink pastel rain that turns the room into a rose bower. This is a 21st-century Degas – as it obviously wants to be. One artist it does not make you think of is Lucian Freud. Ever since the early 1990s, Saville has been compared with the late British figurative master, hyped as a young female Freud, or criticised as 'just not as good as Freud'. This exhibition proves how utterly different they are. He never drew anything as unabashedly erotic as Saville's Degas daydreams. Saville's drawings and pastels ground her art. If you need your figurative artists to be properly skilful – and if they're depicting the human face and body, you should – here's her diploma art. But when she paints, she knowingly overrides every rule she follows as a draughtswoman. When she paints, she goes wild. It's there in her gargantuan early canvases, epically thrusting nipples, tummies and hips towards your eyes. Seated on a stool with meaty legs protruding, or lying at an angle that puts a great hairy nest of pubic hair right up by you, these women wonderfully overwhelm you. Walking among them, one physical detail after another looms up, expanded, so alive they still seem to be growing. Scale in art can do more than just look impressive, or important, or freakish. It can change the relationship between art and beholder, even magically invert subject and object. When Saville paints big naked people they're alive. And when she paints pain, the effect is terrifying, because she takes you behind the eyes of the injured. I'm ready as I'll ever be, now, to go back and look at her paintings of violence. Witness, painted in 2009, is a brightly lit face with a smashed mouth that gushes blood. A woman has been assaulted. Her eyes are closed, her teeth bared in a bloody scream, but that makes it sound melodramatic and nightmarish, like a Francis Bacon painting, whereas this is real. You know it's no exaggeration. The painting is photorealist. Other faces are similarly troubling. A young woman looks at you, her face horizontal – she could be dead on a slab. All around you, it's equally horrible and real – scarred girls and battered boys. You feel guilty for looking at them. Yet, equally, they are looking at you. Because these faces are so much bigger than you, they seem more real than you. It is not your civilised morning in an art gallery that is real, but their living, or dying, hell. In her mysterious painting Rosetta II, a towering lost face sways as if remembering tragedy, but her eyes are blue, glazed and clouded, the eyes of a prophetess. Looking, suggests Saville, is not really the point. You have to see beyond the details of skin and bone, beyond anatomy, to feel the ungraspable but omnipresent realness of others. When that understanding hits you it's a shock. Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting at the National Portrait Gallery, London, opens 20 June
