Biting the Red Thing 2005

Editor: This is Lisa Yuskavage’s “Biting the Red Thing,” painted in 2005, using oil. It’s… oddly dreamy. The colors are soft, and the woman has this faraway look, surrounded by scattered fruit. It makes me a bit uneasy, but also curious. What are your initial thoughts? Curator: It’s a tableau of yearning, isn't it? This artist has a real knack for unsettling beauty. The way the light seems to glow from within her… like she's holding a secret. See how the ripe, almost bruised, quality of the fruit mirrors something in her expression? Makes me wonder what she’s savoring, or perhaps mourning. Editor: Mourning? That's interesting, because I was focusing on how sensual it seemed at first. The colors, the flesh tones... but there's something vulnerable about it, too. Curator: Exactly! It’s not straightforwardly seductive, is it? There's a fragility. Maybe a touch of self-consciousness, the way she seems both present and removed from us. Are those pins holding that pomegranate together or piercing it? I keep changing my mind! It’s a clever trick she’s playing, demanding that you bring your own… complications. Editor: I like that – "your own complications!" It is definitely prompting me to consider the role of desire and shame in how the body, and specifically the female form, is perceived. It feels deeply personal. Curator: Isn't it marvelous? Yuskavage never gives you easy answers. Instead, she gives you just enough rope, in the most exquisitely painted way, to hang your own projections and preconceived notions. I feel like I’m forever chewing over her work; each encounter reveals something new to taste. Editor: I definitely see what you mean. I’m going to be thinking about this one for a while. Thanks!