Pie Face. 2008. Oil on linen. 48 x 40 inches

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Pie Face. 2007. oil on linen. 8.5 x 8.5 inches

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Faucet. 1995. oil on linen. 72 x 60 inches

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Big Little Laura. 1998. oil on linen. 76 x 96 inches

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Big Blonde Squatting. 1994. oil on linen. 72 x 72 inches

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LISA YUSKAVAGE (pronounced yus-CAH-vitch) is best known for her figurative oil painting depicting scenes of girls arranged and splayed, provocatively draped over each other in hyper-extended, faux-naïve and knowingly sexualised poses.

With her technique, she makes it clear that craftsmanship is as important to her as to any painter of the Renaissance. She prepares a composition with numerous drawings, in the same way as the masters in the academic tradition. As part of her laborious preparation, YUSKAVAGE makes three-dimensional models of her figures to use them to study light: “to get ‘real’ light,” she says.  She photographs the models; then, she may draw from the photo in ink, or pencil, or pastel…

The finished work is an alchemical combination of warm saturated colours, tactile brushwork, curvaceous lines, highlights and lowlights cloyingly seep into your vision, operating with enjoyable kitsch.

American painter LISA YUSKAVAGE lives and works in in New York City