Lisa Yuskavage and the 21st Century Zaftig

11 september 2024

Bio

Lisa Yuskavage was born in 1962 and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her dad worked as a truck driver while her mom stayed at home. Yuskavage’s artistic abilities emerged as a teenager. She sketched nude figures and destroyed them afterward. Her interest was always on drawing figures.

Fig 1. Art work © Lisa Yuskavage, “Super Natural,” (2014) / Photo Credit David Zwirner (https://yuskavage.com/)

During her teenage years, Yuskavage attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls for her education. In 1984, Yuskavage completed her BFA at the Tyler School of Art. She studied in Rome and found the precision of Renaissance masterpieces incredible. Following her completion of art school, Yuskavage pursued her graduate studies at Yale. This is where she met a classmate, John Currin, and her future husband, the American-Russian visual artist Matvey Levestein. David Zwirner, a German art dealer and gallery owner, has been representing Yuskavage’s work in New York City and internationally for the past twenty years.

Fig 2. Artwork © Lisa Yuskavage, “Naked Neighbor,” (2020) / Photo Credit David Zwirner (https://yuskavage.com/)

The 90s

Yuskavage’s paintings from the 1990s represented curvy naked women, set against a background containing shades of a single color. The monochromatic ambiance evokes a stage lighting experience for the viewer. She admires a couple of Italian painting techniques like chiaroscuro, which involves using contrasting tones to create dramatic lighting effects. Yuskavage incorporates cangiantismo into her work, which involves using a color wheel of various shades. Yuskavage’s figures, combined with optical effects, create a sensual aesthetic, similar to a misty diffusion filter in photography.

Fig 3. Artwork © Lisa Yuskavage, “Big Blonde Squatting,” (1994) / Photo Credit David Zwirner (https://yuskavage.com/)

Aspects of Color

Yuskavage draws inspiration from Color field painting, an abstract art movement born in the 1940s1950s in New York City. Color field painting aimed to create a unique effect by separating color from being contained. The purpose was to emphasize color as a fundamental aspect of the painting’s composition, rather than just a superficial layer on objects.

Fig 4. Artwork © Lisa Yuskavage, “Cookie,” (1998) / Photo Credit David Zwirner (https://yuskavage.com/)

Autopsy Report from Critics

Yuskavage’s paintings invite mixed narratives in the minds of different viewers. Naturally, criticism followed as her popularity grew. According to feminists, Yuskavage’s work reinforces negative stereotypes by presenting women as objects of desire. Other critics characterized Yuskavage’s artistic style as being too centered on misogyny and explicit sexual imagery. Viewers and critics wonder what Yuskavage is thinking. While speaking at Glassell School in 2014, she portrayed her work as confrontational and envisions her paintings as disputing with living entities. She refers to this psychodramatic approach in an interview with American filmmaker Todd Solondz. She pretends to be Frank; the character played by Dennis Hopper in David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet, while painting. The friction present in her figurative work adds a dynamic energy that transforms a lifeless corpse into a vibrant and alive being. Yuskavage derives a significant amount of inspiration from Philip Guston’s exploration of adopting the role of an adversary while creating, which gives her a strong sense of empowerment.

In Premium you can find a lot BONUS FEATURES including more on Yuskavage's themes and aesthetics, parallels with the Canadian American painter Philip Guston, how she created her unique painting style, numerous additional pics, and much more...!

Click HERE for the salacious figures of Yuskavage's spouse John Currin

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