Work Title: Pie Face
Artist: Lisa Yuskavage
Media: Oil on linen
Dimensions: 48 x 40 1/4 x 2 inches
Year: 2007
Image Link: Pie Face
Exhibition History: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
Artist Statement:
"Then her boobs, which are like water balloons, came from another found thing. The color is totally invented in order to set up the cream. So from this to that, you have the whole drama of the painting. As for the background, I just wanted it to stay as background so it doesn’t take away from the strength of the singular and centralized image. This idea of being mean and being cruel is in here. I’m not avoiding that, but there is a certain kind of covert Expressionism."
Artist: Lisa Yuskavage
Media: Oil on linen
Dimensions: 48 x 40 1/4 x 2 inches
Year: 2007
Image Link: Pie Face
Exhibition History: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
Artist Statement:
"Then her boobs, which are like water balloons, came from another found thing. The color is totally invented in order to set up the cream. So from this to that, you have the whole drama of the painting. As for the background, I just wanted it to stay as background so it doesn’t take away from the strength of the singular and centralized image. This idea of being mean and being cruel is in here. I’m not avoiding that, but there is a certain kind of covert Expressionism."
Curator Comments:
Lisa Yuskavage plays with the idea of “the male gaze” in many of her paintings by “endowing her female figures with strangely shaped breasts and buttocks”, exaggerating the body parts for the purpose of “riveting and repelling the gaze on parts of the body that are fetished” (McDaniel and Robertson 91). As seen in Pie Face, Yuskavage emphasizes and enlarges the females breasts, nipples, hips, and thighs—all body parts on a female that are commonly scrutinized by the United States culture. The female's body language makes it look like she is standing shyly: her shoulders are raised, and her head is on her shoulder. However, at the same time she looks somewhat playful and suggestive, as if she is posing for the viewer like a pin-up model would in a men’s magazine.
Yuskavage once said, “pie-ing is an act of bringing someone off his or her pedestal” (Buing). As seen in the painting, the female has a clear cream pie covering her face. Pie-ing is associated with comedy—it is not like throwing shoes or eggs at someone. It is still a penalty of doing something wrong, but it is still funny at the same time. Yuskavage stated that pie-ing is “messy fun for sexual kicks”, that some people have fetishes with food. Thus, the purpose of having a pie on the female’s face as she is trying to seduce or come onto the viewer is to humiliate her. She does not look sexy, though she appears to be trying hard to be attractive with her innocent facial expression and daintily held hands. Yuskavage is conveying how today’s society and how a majority of men view women as only the curves on their bodies—a sex object. The pie on her face further shows how some men are only interested in the act of sex and arousal, no matter what the female has to do to achieve it.
This picture is purposely degrading to exaggerate the only things many men are interested in. What is interesting about the actual painting is its composition. The colors are all very dull and somewhat neutral—they are delicate and calming, two things that all women should be. Because of this, they allow the pie on the female’s face to stand out. The woman is centered in the painting, making her where the viewers eye directly goes to, and even more so centered is the pie face. This, making the artist’s message even more obvious.
Lisa Yuskavage plays with the idea of “the male gaze” in many of her paintings by “endowing her female figures with strangely shaped breasts and buttocks”, exaggerating the body parts for the purpose of “riveting and repelling the gaze on parts of the body that are fetished” (McDaniel and Robertson 91). As seen in Pie Face, Yuskavage emphasizes and enlarges the females breasts, nipples, hips, and thighs—all body parts on a female that are commonly scrutinized by the United States culture. The female's body language makes it look like she is standing shyly: her shoulders are raised, and her head is on her shoulder. However, at the same time she looks somewhat playful and suggestive, as if she is posing for the viewer like a pin-up model would in a men’s magazine.
Yuskavage once said, “pie-ing is an act of bringing someone off his or her pedestal” (Buing). As seen in the painting, the female has a clear cream pie covering her face. Pie-ing is associated with comedy—it is not like throwing shoes or eggs at someone. It is still a penalty of doing something wrong, but it is still funny at the same time. Yuskavage stated that pie-ing is “messy fun for sexual kicks”, that some people have fetishes with food. Thus, the purpose of having a pie on the female’s face as she is trying to seduce or come onto the viewer is to humiliate her. She does not look sexy, though she appears to be trying hard to be attractive with her innocent facial expression and daintily held hands. Yuskavage is conveying how today’s society and how a majority of men view women as only the curves on their bodies—a sex object. The pie on her face further shows how some men are only interested in the act of sex and arousal, no matter what the female has to do to achieve it.
This picture is purposely degrading to exaggerate the only things many men are interested in. What is interesting about the actual painting is its composition. The colors are all very dull and somewhat neutral—they are delicate and calming, two things that all women should be. Because of this, they allow the pie on the female’s face to stand out. The woman is centered in the painting, making her where the viewers eye directly goes to, and even more so centered is the pie face. This, making the artist’s message even more obvious.
Bibliography:
Buing, Phong. "Lisa Yuskavage with Phong Bui." The Brooklyn Rail. Web. 25 Apr. 2010. <http://www.brooklynrail.org
/2009/03/art/in-conversation-lisa-yuskavage-with-phong-bui>.
McDaniel, Craig, and Jean Robertson. Themes of Contemporary Art. Second ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Yuskavage, Lisa. Pie Face. 2007. David Zwirner Gallery, New York. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.re-title.com/artists
/Lisa-Yuskavage.asp>.
Buing, Phong. "Lisa Yuskavage with Phong Bui." The Brooklyn Rail. Web. 25 Apr. 2010. <http://www.brooklynrail.org
/2009/03/art/in-conversation-lisa-yuskavage-with-phong-bui>.
McDaniel, Craig, and Jean Robertson. Themes of Contemporary Art. Second ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Yuskavage, Lisa. Pie Face. 2007. David Zwirner Gallery, New York. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.re-title.com/artists
/Lisa-Yuskavage.asp>.
