Cristina Troufa:

I first came across this artist when researching negative space, which I think she uses to emphasise the important parts of her subject. She often combines this with extreme foreshortening to increase the effect.

Voyeur #5

Troufa’s facial expression in this piece is what is important, conveying annoyance and discomfort at the intrusion of the viewer, so she brings it to the foreground. The effect is to make the viewer self-conscious; I think the title of the piece refers to the viewer.

Arvore

(Tree) The illusion of great height is achieved in this piece by showing the soles of the feet, in combination with the portrayal of Troufa hanging from branches, which the viewer assumes to be in the air (ie, the figure is not lying down). There is a feeling of peril and risk in this piece, is it about fear of imminent parental responsibility? The foetus is rendered in its own small section of the canvas, which touches but is separate from the main part, almost like a so-called ‘thought bubble’, suggesting the child has yet to be born.

So Close

The grasping, reaching fingers in the foreground and the facial expressions strongly convey a sense of desperation

Jenny Saville:

Jenny Savillle paints women ‘as we are’. This piece, ‘The Plan’, of Saville herself, portrays the map-like lines marked on a patient’s skin prior to liposuction surgery. Saville uses foreshortening here to emphasise these areas to be ‘improved’ as a comment on how women often view themselves, and on the measures they will take in an effort to conform to some aesthetic ideal imposed upon us by society.