Lisa Yuskavage’s paintings have riveted global audiences since she began exhibiting in New York in the early 1990s. Since then, her fecund, no-holds barred representations of the female figure have pushed contemporary painting past pat aesthetic prohibitions and censorious instances of political correctness.

A painter’s painter whose primary purpose has long been to revitalise an age-old medium ever on the verge of obsolescence, Yuskavage confects up-to-date painted clichés of women, inverting the traditional voyeuristic treatment of the female figure.

This exhibition—only Yuskavage’s second museum show in Europe—is made up of eight canvases the artist made between 2008 and 2010. Selected by the artist herself along with the curators, the pictures feature fulsome figures in glowing drawing rooms and previously uncharacteristic landscapes. In an effort to bridge this exhibition and the larger Dublin Contemporary 2011 exhibition, the artist has also generously provided a panoramic pastel work for Dublin Contemporary’s site at Earlsfort Terrace.

Born 1962 in Philadelphia, U.S.A. Yuskavage now lives and works in New York, U.S.A.

Born in Co Roscommon in 1941, James Coleman is recognised internationally as one of the most important and pioneering contemporary artists since the late 1960s. Over the last 40 years, Coleman’s work has transformed our understanding of the image in the visual arts, and influenced an entire generation of artists.

For Dublin Contemporary 2011, James Coleman’s video installation 2004-11, a work in progress, evolves around an interpretation of a classical drama, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Presented on a large LED screen, the work offers a reflection on the image and on communication in contemporary society.

Since the 1970s, Coleman has exhibited extensively in Ireland and internationally, including ROSC, 1977, 1988, ROSC Cork, 1980, Franklin Furnace, New York, 1981, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1983, Renaissance Society, Chicago, 1985, Dunguaire Castle, Galway, 1985, the Dia Center for the Arts, New York, 1994-95, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, 1995, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Paris, 1996, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1999, Lenbachhaus-Kunstbau Städtische Galerie, Munich, 2002, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, 2002, project for the exhibition Léonard de Vinci: dessins et manuscrits, Louvre, Paris, 2003, Museu do Chiado, Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, 2004-05, and IMMA, Project Arts Centre, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 2009. Coleman has also participated in many significant international group exhibitions including the Venice Biennale, 1968 and Documenta 2002 & 2007.