The Mound 2011

Editor: So, here we have Lisa Yuskavage's "The Mound" from 2011. The colors are really striking - this incredible purple sky juxtaposed with this almost aggressively green little hill. The figure emerging from the tree gives off this dreamy, melancholic vibe, almost Munch-inspired, like you could scream silently at the landscape. What catches your eye when you look at this piece? Curator: Oh, the scream, precisely! Except, it's buried, quieted, like a fairy tale whispered in a fever dream. I am immediately drawn to that figure melding with the tree, becoming one with the landscape. It's almost Daphne-esque, wouldn't you say? Except instead of fleeing Apollo, this transformation feels… chosen? Is she seeking solace or surrendering to something bigger than herself? What is your impression of how Yuskavage uses the pastel tones here, considering her more typical deployment of fleshy colors? Editor: It's interesting you mention Daphne - it does have that mythological feel. The choice of pastels definitely softens the whole piece, taking away a bit of the… well, almost vulgar rawness I usually associate with her figures. Do you think she's perhaps exploring a different side of femininity here? A vulnerability perhaps? Curator: Vulnerability is absolutely at play, I think. And isn't it curious how the harsh purples and greens, colors that could easily be aggressive, instead become strangely comforting? They cradle this figure, don't they? Almost like a womb… Or maybe that’s just my overactive imagination again, weaving its tales. Ultimately it asks something profound, I think, and a bit more complicated than typical notions of feminity: How do we both vanish *into* nature while remaining defiantly *ourselves*? How does her subverted vision of the picturesque operate? Editor: That's such a compelling point! I initially read it as melancholy, but seeing it as a possible vanishing - a dissolving into nature - really shifts the mood for me. There's strength there, too. Thanks for pointing that out! Curator: And thank you for seeing that too; after all, isn’t it the best part about viewing art, seeing a piece change right before your very eyes… as a mound grows… as a scream dies.