Suzanne Yardin’s Volt is truly electrifying. What is most striking about it is the palette. Yellow, browns, and faded grays are usually synonymous with muted earth tones. In some cases they can be used to warm a pallete and evoke a sense of comfort, but more often than not, they come with a associated with a feeling of melancholy, like death. However, Yurdin’s work is alive. You can get a great sense of movement as the brushstrokes dance expertly across the canvas. With few visible texture lines Yurdin is able to create an illusion of a pulsating surface. Looking at this from an art historical perspective, there is a real sense of a return to nature once seen in the American Hudson River school movement. Often when a cave was depicted, like in Thomas Cole’s Kaaterskill Falls (pictured above) it is associated with the womb of the earth. Much like the color pallet of Volt a dichotomy exists between the fine line between the end of something and the renewal of life. As the lighter shades peek through the Horizon there is an overwhelming sentiment of coming joy. This same response can be extracted from Yurdin’s piece because of the way the artist intergraded the use of light cream tones over the mustard yellow. If your eye follows the piece, despite its rectangular shape, the viewer can see the power of the cyclical nature of such a magnificent piece of art.
-Elizabeth Hay
Intern Review
GWU 2012
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