Lisa Yuskavage

This is going to be the first artist that I'm going to talk about that is kind of inspiring some actions in my project.

One of my teachers told me to check out her work and I pretty much fell in love with it at first sight. I feel like her work tends to be between surrealism and realism. The way she executes her painting so softly yet it gives a feeling of confidence and feminism is absolutely amazing. My favorite ones are "Honeymoon"(picture 1), "Manifest Destiny"(picture 2), "Beads"(picture 3), "Tea"(picture 4), "Faucet"(picture 5), "Still Life Wearing a Wig"(picture 6),

"Cookiepuss"(picture 7) and "Elizabeth (Dark Landscape)"(picture 8).

The thing we have in common in terms of the painting

is creating fiction. Most of her paintings of nude women are a work of her own mind, no model. As she said in one of her interviews "I am quite conscious that I am creating fiction. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to construct and manipulate them aggressively as paintings.

I have always thought of the image as a personification of the painting itself. It is the layering and intersecting of how it is painted and how it is painted and what image is that creates the meaning for me. I do feel puzzled, perhaps naively about some of the language used by others to talk about them. Words like "bimbo" are problematic for me, as they describe a lofty distance and a lack of empathy; I am a great deal more emphatic than ironic toward the paintings. I think you can see that if you look at the light and how they are painted. I don't work from an elevated place looking down; if they are low, I am in the ditch with them, and by painting them, I am trying to dig us out together.".

I've been having the same problem with people judged my painting and drawing saying things like :

"Why do you draw breasts so much?"

"Why are they naked?"

"Why don't you try to use a model and paint?"

"Are you going to show your breasts as well?"

"Why do they have such big breasts?"

and so on...

To be honest, I feel like I am capable of doing what I love just by myself. I've felt a lot of pressure because of the comments. One day I just said 'Fuck it' and just continued with my work. I've got more confident and comfortable with the way I work.

I am trying to put Lisa's confidence in practice. Her attitude about it is what I aspire to be like towards my work.

As an artist, I recommend you to not only check her wor out but also her as a person and artist.