Golden Couple 2018

Lisa Yuskavage painted this strangely lit oil painting called ‘Golden Couple.’ There’s something about Yuskavage’s approach to color and form that really gets under my skin, in a good way. I can imagine her in the studio, wrestling with these fleshy tones and the way the figures emerge from the golden background, like they’re caught in a dream. The paint isn’t exactly thick, but there's a density to it, a kind of viscosity that makes you want to touch it, to see how it feels. Her figures are oddly proportioned, yes, but I appreciate that; it’s like she’s pushing back against the classical idea of beauty. There's an ongoing conversation between artists across time. I'm reminded of Titian, and even more of Eric Fischl, but Yuskavage is completely her own thing. For me, painting is this weird conversation between your body, your mind, and the materials – the paint, the canvas, the brushes – and that's what I see happening here. It's not about perfection; it’s about embracing the mess, the ambiguity, and the endless possibilities of what a painting can be.