Yuskavage was trained at Temple University's Tyler School of Art, including a year at the Temple School of Art in Rome in 1982, and received a master's degree from Yale in 1986. This, her first solo museum exhibition, was organized by ICA's new director, Claudia Gould. Yuskavage has the skill to become an excellent artist, building upon the traditional precepts of Western art and doing it in contemporary terms, but now she seems to be at a turning point. Although the sensational subject matter got her work noticed, sex can easily become a cliche. It will be interesting to see what she will achieve, given all that ability.
Subject matter is yesterday's news.
The exhibition in the second-floor galleries by two young Dutch designers, Hella Jongerius and Jurgen Bey, finally brings some wit to this new cult of Design. It's a satirical look at what we worship, so it's up to each of us to answer why. Broken pieces of old furniture are transformed by Bey into a new identity. Bronze castings of antique chair backs, inserted in logs, create a new place to sit. The fact that such an object has actually been purchased by a hotshot designer for a New York hotel bar contributes to the satire.