Art 220, Yan Pei-Ming

Landscape of Childhood, 2009

Pu Yi, 2007

Victime- Ingrid L., 2001


As a perfectionist I find it really hard to work in charcoal, or any medium that is slightly blurry. I like things that are crisp, straight, and black and white. Looking at the work of Yan Pei-Ming challenged everything that I am comfortable with. Not only are his subjects slightly startling, but the way he paints and draws makes me nervous. I would like to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and working in his style would easily make me do that. For my final project I want to challenge myself to render figures in something other than ink, and I think charcoal, although scary, has the potential to push me the most. Yan Pei-Ming's figures are blurry, but still have a sense of clarity, which is a happy medium I believe I can compromise with. The roughness of his work adds character, and that is what my work has been lacking lately. I am interested in using his technique in my final project to see how it turns out.

Art 220, Lisa Yuskavage

Top to bottom: Kathy on a Pedestal, 2001; Nana on a Shower Curtain, 2005; Violet Quilt, 2009

The first thing I noticed about Lisa Yuskavage's work was the proportions of her figures. The angles, colors, and ratios of body parts in her figures are all very exaggerated. Her work is intriguing because it is very mysterious. I can't figure out who the subjects are, what they are doing, or why their bodys are so distorted. I am not sure whether or not the feminine figures are benefiting from their exaggerated hips and boobs, but it definitely gets the feminine mystique across to the viewer. I think something I could bring into my own work is the way she creates her space and background behind the figures. It is subtle but still allows the viewer to understand that the figure is in space. It is a mix between realistic and pattern, especially in the last image, and I think that could be incorporated into our work in class.

Art 220, Yishai Jusidman

I really like Jusidman's work because it is the complete opposite of what I am used to and comfortable with. I don't pride myself on being good at portraying faces and often times I shy away from him. Doing a portrait this up close seems actually terrifying to me because of how accurate you have to be. His work, like many of the other artists I talk about, is very intriguing and has a definite story behind it. What I like most about Jusidman's portraits is the cropping he chooses. He makes awkward look good, and you have to be a good artist to do that. I'd like to try doing this because I like paying small attention to detail and it would force me to stop shying away from faces. I am thinking about trying this for my final project.

Art 220, Steven Assael

I was really interested in Steven Assael's drawings because of his usage of negative space and ambiguity. All of his drawings combine the usage of shading and line drawing which makes for an interesting composition. I especially like the last drawing because it relates to what we are doing for our final project and combining multiple figures. I thought the middle drawing was particularly interesting because he doesn't depict a head so we don't know much about the figure. I think his lightness in touch is something I could definitely take a lesson from and try to apply in my own work. I normally stick to strong contrasts in my figures but Assael's gentle approach is very appealing. You can tell he takes a lot of time in getting proper proportions and it's nice to see the lines he lays out before he shades his figures.