(Piece 2, Gursky)
(Piece 1, Gursky)
(Piece 2, Yuskavage)
(Piece 1, Yuskavage)

Artist: Lisa Yuskavage

Bio: Lisa Yuskavage is a contemporary American oil painter who focuses on the sexualization of women in her work. Yuskavage works in New York City, but studied at the Tyler School of Art in Pennsylvania where she got her BFA in 1984, and Yale University’s School of Art where she got her MFA in 1986.

Piece 1: Outskirts

Year: 2011

Medium: oil on linen

Piece 2: Kathy on a Pedestal

Year: 2001

Medium: Intaglio with Chine colle

Thoughts on artist:

I think that the sexualization of women, especially the hyper-sexualization of women, is a fine line to walk. While I find Yuskavage’s color palette aesthetically appealing, I don’t think that I would necessarily jump to a fondness for her paintings; my initial reaction is one of questioning why she has chosen to portray women in this way. While her technique cannot be denied as beautiful, many of her pieces seem to serve the purpose merely of that of work bordering on vague erotica. I don’t think that this is necessarily a bad thing, but I do think that it’s a completely different kind of art than what many critics seem to be claiming for Yuskavage’s art.

Artist: Andreas Gursky

Bio: Andreas Gursky is a visual artist who works generally in a large format of architecture and landscape color photographs. His Rhein II, sold at Christie’s in New York in 2011 was the most expensive photograph ever sold, selling for $4.3 million.

Piece 1: 99 Cent II Diptychon

Year: 2001

Medium: C-print mounted to acrylic glass

Piece 2: Rhein II

Year: 1999

Medium: C-print mounted to plexiglass in artist’s frame

Thoughts on Artist:

I think that Gursky’s use of photography as documenting a scene in a way which portrays it as a color composition instead of merely a scene is interesting. Looking at a few of his pieces, his photographs are rich in color, contrast, and pattern, which I find appealing in any medium of work. I think Gursky’s straight-forwardness with his photography is appealing as well, but at the same time I don’t think I would pay $4.3 million dollars for his art.