Jim Nutt

Jim Nutt

Coursing, 1966, acrylic and collage on plexiglas

Trim, 2010, acrylic on linen

Jim Nutt is a founding member of the Chicago surrealist art movement known as Chicago Imagists, or Hairy Who. His pop culture influence is evident in his work. He often paints fantasy, characters, and political commentary.

In his portraits, he paints expectations of faces instead of actual faces.  His faces could be compared to that which a child would draw. He uses mixed media and collage. They could be classified as cartoon versions of people, kind of remind me of Ren and Stimpy. His flat areas of color bring to mind digital versions of paintings.

The shapes of his figures could be compared to John Currin.

These two paintings have over a 40 year span but elements of distortion and strange shapes remain constant.

Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara

Cosmic Eyes, 2007, acrylic on canvas

Yoshitomo Nara is a Japanese Pop artist. He paints illustration-like innocent children with a sadistic twist. Big-eyed, scowling, and malevolent kids. He also incorporates text into his paintings for a narrative clue.

He draws influence from loneliness and freedom.

Formally he uses flat areas of bold color , thick outlines, and stylized forms.

He says the children in his paintings are thinking about what you're thinking about ;)

Lisa Yuskavage

Lisa Yuskavage

Edge of Towners, 2011, oil on linen

The Smoker, 2008, oil on linen

Lisa Yuskavage is a figurative painter who works with themes of re-emergence. She is concerned with the immediacy of contemporary life. Her engagement with the human form is representative of John Currin.

Adjectives of her female nude include lavish, erotic, cartoonish, vulgar, and angelic.

Formally, she places her figures in front of rich, atmospheric skies, so as to appear to occupy their own realm. Her lines and colors appear dreamlike.

John Currin

John Currin

The Bra Shop, 1997, oil on canvas

Kiev, 2008, oil on canvas

John Currin is a figurative painter influenced by Renaissance oil paintings, contemporary culture, politics, and women's magazines.

He creates parodies of our sex-obsessed culture through distortion of the human figure. Main themes include pornographic eroticism and manipulation. Often his portraits appear satirical, kitschy, and humorous. Over time his works have gotten much more explicitly erotic.