Executed in 2017, Déjà Vu epitomizes Lisa Yuskavage's innovative aesthetic lexicon, which distinguishes her as one of the most influential artists of the past three decades. Her treatment of light and the flesh has been compared to that of the Baroque masters, as she approaches the canvas beyond its planar limitation. Like Yuskavage's great Venetian forbearers–the masters of luminescence–she finds in light the power to transform and elevate the visual image, painting her female subjects as strong, bold figures, rejecting the traditional notion of female nudes painted from a male perspective. A seminal work executed in 2017, Déjà Vu presents such a figure in one of her most immediate and wildly beguiling states. The lush fleshiness of her form glows and pulsates from within, a seemingly true being in this fabricated reality whose presence commands one’s full attention.
Our radiating female protagonist is surrounded by a small crowd of male figures in washed shades of grays and black that largely recall grisaille–the gray paintings traditionally used on church interiors to suggest sculptural relief. Ultimately, color is the most significant element of Déjà Vu, as it is used to delineate arenas of physical and emotional space on the canvas; “The nude female figure is depicted in saturated colors, distinguished in her brilliance. The neutral tones of the men around her isolate her further, and at the only point of physical contact, her fingertips, they leach her of color. This makes the emotional distance and unequal power dynamic within the grouping immediately evident” (Ellen Charlesworth, “Interesting Artworks: Déjà Vu by Lisa Yuskavage”, Art Aesthetics Magazine, 16 July 2017, (online)). Existing as an eruptive vertical slash of illumination cutting through the composition, our majestic female character is surrounded by ethereal manifestations, as rendered in mute, recessive tones. Yuskavage guides us as viewers into a dark corner of the female psyche, juxtaposing desire and attraction to call into question the act of wanting, and the act of being wanted.
