A post by Astrid Bowlby
(For more on this topic, see posts of 6/3/03 and 6/6/03)
I saw Yuskavage’s show at the ICA and was very disappointed. She is not a very good painter, but like John Currin, seems to get compared favorably to very good painters all of the time. (I think he is overrated as well). I don’t know what her training was, but the paint handling, her understanding of the chemistry and the material quality of pigments and their suspensions, is sorely lacking. And she certainly is not a colorist. I was seeking sensitivity, love, if you will, expressed with material about her chosen subject matter. But what I felt was empty. Unfortunately, even if something is to be abhorred, it must be painted with love in order for anyone to be revulsed. Otherwise, there is no passion, no conviction, no essence, NO thing.
