Post from Tim McFarlane
I saw Yuskavage’s show (her “Kathy on a Pedestal” right) at the ICA. Some of her show I liked, some of it I didn’t. I’m not always thrilled with her choice of colors, but they lend a lot to the strangeness and mystery in much of her work that I find lacking in Pierre et Gilles’. Yuskavage’s often odd-looking, sexually charged female figures set in similarly strange interior and exteriors at least hint at something more going on beneath the surface. Her images, while often having a typical pin-up feel, usually have this off kilter look about them that can have you really questioning your original response(s).
What I’ve seen of Pierre et Gilles’s work leaves me with nothing more than the feeling that I’m looking at over glamorized, airbrushed and Photoshopped commercial ad images. The sets, make-up, and ungodly idealized models leave little to no room for other interpretations. I say this taking into account that Pierre et Gilles’ work is photography based and our culture is drowning in images that are very similar to theirs. As art, Pierre et Gille’s work doesn’t rise above it’s source whereas most of Lisa Yuskavage’s paintings do.
–Tim McFarlane
