Lisa Yuskavage’s Fleshy Femmes Rock David Zwirner New York

Summary

  • David Zwirner in Chelsea is currently presentin g a solo show by seminal American artist Lisa Yuskavage
  • Across over two dozen new and recent artworks, the show highlights recurring themes within the artist’s oeuvre, while introducing her first-ever collages and trompe-l’oeil elements

New York Art Week is in full swing, and David Zwirner gallery is showcasing Lisa Yuskavage with a major exhibition in Chelsea. The show, running until June 26th, features over twenty of her latest paintings, exploring familiar ideas in her work while also presenting exciting new directions.

Yuskavage is a leading figure in art today, celebrated for her innovative approach to painting. Her work often features nude figures and explores themes of perception, challenging traditional ways we look at art, and questioning the relationship between the viewer, the subject, and ideas about gender and artificiality. Her use of color is vibrant and integral to the overall effect.

This presentation showcases a new direction for the artist, as she explores collage for the first time. She beautifully combines pastel, tempera, and gouache on Color-aid paper, creating impressive illusions of depth. These works also cleverly reference the history of color-field painting, using techniques that play with perception.

Although the artworks seem created in a studio setting, the gallery notes they truly exist within the artist’s imagination. They’re described as dreamlike constructions where time becomes fluid and the lines between space and time blur.

The canvases shown in the paintings also appear as objects within the gallery space. Yuskavage creates a world that shifts between large, dramatic scenes and smaller, more personal ones, constantly referencing itself and inviting viewers to think about the paintings themselves as part of the experience.

The artist recently wrote in Harper’s Bazaar about how a painting achieves a certain beauty when all its elements come together perfectly. They described this process as working without strict rules, relying on intuition and instinct. When everything finally aligns, the resulting feeling is one of grace – a sense of elegance and purpose that is truly beautiful.

Lisa Yuskavage is now on view at David Zwirner in New York.

David Zwirner Chelsea
533 W 19th Street,
New York, NY 10011

Read More

2026-05-15 00:26