The present work is a prime example of the significant influence of Rococo painting on Flora Yukhnovich’s work. In 2019, Yukhnovich completed a two-month residency with Victoria Miro in Venice where she was exposed to a multitude of monumental paintings by Italian Rococo artists, which are the main source of inspiration in her current body of work.

“I reduced the palette to concentrate on the relationship between line and curve in Tiepolo’s work, trying to understand some underlying code to the way he structures things.”
—Flora Yukhnovich

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Transportation of the Holy House from Nazareth to Loreto, 1743, Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice. Image: Bridgeman Images

Untitled was created during the period when she was departing from figurative painting and moving onto much more abstract representation, with a predominant focus on the materiality of paint, the overall process of application and handling, and how this can enhance the meaning of a work.ⁱ Yukhnovich explains that during her creative process, she uses various sources to set the stage for a specific body of work, typically selecting a Rococo source for its imagery, but simultaneously paying attention to the way in which the work was painted.

“Art history is really important to me because I think that the way in which we look at an artist or at an art historical movement is informed by how it has been written about. With the Rococo movement especially, one of the things that interests me is that it has this reputation for not being very intellectual or rigorous.”
—Flora Yukhnovich

Yukhnovich masterfully utilises her understanding of paint and its properties to create a warm and inviting reimagining of the lower left quadrant of Tiepolo’s Transportation of the Holy House. The combination of loose brushstrokes and reduced colour palette gives room for the viewer to participate in the artist’s painterly language. By leaving room for imagination, Yukhnovich’s works provide the viewer with a unique and deeply personal interpretation and experience.

ⁱ Flora Yuknovich, quoted in ‘Interview // Through the Language of the Rococo: In Conversation with Flora Yuknovich’, Imediations Postgraduate Journal, No. 17., 2020, online.
- Provenance
  Victoria Miro, London
  Acquired from the above by the present owner
- Exhibited
  Venice, Victoria Miro, Flora Yukhnovich: Barcarole, 12 September– 24 October 2020