The late painter Francis Bacon noted a constant underlying feeling of dissatisfaction with his paintings in an interview, saying ‘how can you be satisfied? everything escapes you’. Figurative art is directly concerned with the challenge of re-translating the human form and experience. This is the great impossibility, how can you truly represent and grasp someone deeply through art? Like Bacon says, there’s always something missing, always a misinterpretation, a limit to how deeply we can represent ourselves, others and our experiences.For Loretta Yussuff, this challenge of expressing and representing through paint is one of the most attractive and addicting qualities of the medium. Especially as a painter in the beginning of practising her craft, she felt there were so many things to try to paint and express as best she could.

As a figurative painter, taking the time necessary to get likeness and accuracy in Yussuff’s representations is the first step in her process which allows Yussuff to then let go of an analytical approach and let the work become more expressive and intuitive. Colour, rhythm and creative imagination begin to take shape after the first step, as Yussuff follows her intuition throughout the painting process, with a general vision of the end result and of the feeling she wants to portray. A back and forth journey of creating and taking away and following wherever the process leads, the end result to always different and more truly expressive than what Yussuff envisions at the very start.

Portrait of Dale is Loretta Yussuff’s first finished oil painting on canvas, after many failed starts and experiments she eventually managed to move into a way of expressing how she felt visually in a way that moves and excites Yussuff. Next she painted Portrait of Younger Brother, which had the honour of being part of the group exhibition entitled ‘Faces’ at the King House Gallery. Contact is Loretta Yussuff’s first painting that offers a narrative, it is about being stirred by someone and yearning for complete merging with another person. Next series paintings were a portrait of close friend Abigail and then one of Roseline, the latter which shows a development in Loretta Yussuff’s colour palette.

There’s a Yoruba proverb ‘ile oba t’o jo, ewa lo busi’ which can be translated to ‘when a king’s palace burns down, the rebuilt palace is more beautiful’ and its a proverb that has continuously provided creative reassurance to Yussuff throughout each painting process so far. While creating an artwork there is a constant flowing of building up, mending, taking away, re-starting and it can be at times frustrating and chaotic. To know that each time Yussuff retouches a part or change direction while painting, although it looks and feels like she is destroying something she worked hard to create, that destruction is in truth a really important element of the process of creation. The proverb also reminds Loretta Yussuff of one of her Dad’s, who is also Yoruba, favourite phrases growing up which is the reassurance during bad times that things get worse before they get better, a reminder that the bad is not a hopeless end but the temporary required stage towards something better. This mindset shift allows Yussuff greater freedom and trust in her artistic process, to know that what will come after any artistic struggles or failures will be something more refined, when its going sideways or down it is actually just going up in the long run.

For Loretta Yusuff, art is primarily all about feelings, letting feelings out while creating feelings for others. She finds painting a very healing creative outlet and is excited to develop her work in the years to come and work on variety of painting ideas she has in mind. In the interview with Bacon mentioned earlier, the artist continued from his statement, explaining that ‘you may love somebody very much, but how near can you get to them? You’re still always, unfortunately, sort of strangers’. As previously said, it is true that one can never fully close the gap between reality and representation, however Loretta Yussuff feels that painting is one of the those great mediums to get nearer and nearer to bridging the two together in new imaginative ways. This constant dissatisfaction Bacon talks about can easily become a source of excitement worthy of a life's pursuit, with ones craft constantly egging the individual on to see just how near the one can get.&nbsp;This <a href="https://omnifinery.com/editorial/art">Art Story</a> is brought to you by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/instituteavetisian/">Institute Avetisian</a>, a contemporary art gallery, which is focused on Art Brut, Conceptualism, <a href="https://omnifinery.com/editorial/minimalism">Minimalism</a>, Video and Abstract Art. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/instituteavetisian/">Follow Institute Avetisian on Instagram</a> to see more exciting works and learn more about contemporary artists.&nbsp;Omnifinery - Feel Comfort in Your Individuality&nbsp;Text:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/omnifinery/">Editorial Staff</a>Omnifinery Editorial: 2021 May Art Article 001

For Loretta Yussuff the challenge of expressing and representing an experience through paint is one of the most attractive and addicting qualities of the medium.

Loretta Yussuff: ‘Everything Escapes You’ - An intuitive portraitist who shapes rhythm in colour

Related Products

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Related Stories

KOMETA.A: ‘An Arrival of a LADYBUG’

Become an Omnifinery Member to Share Your Creative Spirit and Be a Part of an Artistic Community

Next Story

'A Dream for All and None'. An avant-garde fashion brand, where dreams can move the mountains. Presenting ‘Ad Astra’ by Evgeny Avetisian

Related Products

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Ad Astra

Related Stories

'A Dream for All and None'. An avant-garde fashion brand, where dreams can move the mountains. Presenting ‘Ad Astra’ by Evgeny Avetisian

KOMETA.A: ‘An Arrival of a LADYBUG’

Next Story

'A Dream for All and None'. An avant-garde fashion brand, where dreams can move the mountains. Presenting ‘Ad Astra’ by Evgeny Avetisian