Yvette draws and paints, but she thinks sculpturally. In Cassina, her site-specific installation that fused itself into a 5,000 square foot commercial space, included Per Aspera Ad Astra (Through Hardship to the Stars). This painting is revelatory of Yvette’s approach to her art practice. In 2017 her site-specific installation at Basta Pasta, a popular Japanese-Italian restaurant in the Flatiron district of NYC, welcomed guests at the entrance with Total Strangers mounted above the bar. Swimming on Air and other work guided diners throughout the restaurant. In 2018, Ellen Fagan of Odetta Gallery in Bushwick brought back to life some of the pieces from the Cassina show along with some current work, in her wonderful, nearly square space of a gallery.

Yvette was born in Cairo, Egypt and raised in Paris and Montreal. In 1976 she received a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal where she studied with Guido Molinari. After moving to New York she continued her education attending classes at the Art Student’s League, the School of Visual Arts and the Whitney seminars. For a year she worked in lithography at the Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.

In 1983 she established Plum Graphics Inc., a greeting card company, recognized for its unique images and products. There she received several nominations and a Louie award for her work. Louie awards are the Oscars of the greeting card industry.

STATEMENT

I draw and I paint, but I think sculpturally. I work with unconventional perspective to expand the perception of space beyond the tangible wall. Paintings are 2-D and mount flat on the wall. Often grouped in diptychs, triptychs, or more, the surrounding space is activated and the entire wall becomes the canvas. Shapes are canvas under wooden dowels, or simply canvas pieces. Pieces seemingly fluctuate between flatness and volume, and appear to float in space. Drawings, also about volume and space, zoom in to focus on subtle intimate details.

So many influences inhabit me: the strong defiantly simple shapes and colors of Ellsworth Kelly, the serenity and monumentality of Constantin Brancusi, the spontaneity and deeply felt intuition of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

I strive to work beyond the boundaries of what is familiar. I work with the tension between geometric and organic, volume and flat. This tension, like life, is full of contradictions. In this world of contradictions, I strive to find a balance.

VOID REVISITED #2

Year: 2018

Materials: Oil paint on shaped canvas with wood dowels

Size: 18 X 29

MORE INFO

VOID REVISITED #3

Year: 2018

Materials: Oil paint on shaped canvas with wood dowels

Size: 18 X 29

MORE INFO

exhibition "2021"

As a celebration that 2020 has ended and that a new year is here, FLATFILE has launched a new online program title, simply: "2021."

We invited artists to participate through a rolling open call, which remains open for the entirety of this year. From these submissions, our jury panel carefully selects new works to present on FLATFILE, with new works added throughout all of 2021.

The price of each artwork is a flat $2,021,

a discounted price from the actual value of each work, offered here, exclusively.

APPLY