#yeokaa

Yeo Kaa’s latest suite of works draws from her own experiences and opens up fragments of memories from a recent past. In her artistic oeuvre, semi-autobiographical narratives are often woven with an assortment of literal and metaphorical imagery dealing with dark themes, such as violence, depression, and anxiety. The resulting compositions then straddle dynamically between reality and fiction, factual and imaginary. This collection takes cue from such personal take on self-expression as the artist offers a glimpse of troubled moments from a failed relationship. . The works revolve around the trope of agony, both mental and emotional. Each canvas narrates an episode in an ordeal involving a couple, seen as a pair of light and dark figures. Distress and agony are indicated in the clearly-rendered facial features of the light figure, dominated by large, teary eyes. The dark figure in contrast appears as an almost a solid silhouette defined by black smudges, devoid of facial expression implying an attitude of indifference towards the partner. The images paint a picture of a companionship where one is led to a state that undermines self-worth, an unhealthy dependency in which one takes on a manipulative and abusive role while the other becomes a submissive victim trapped in a cycle of pain and suffering. This is perhaps an all-too familiar tale of a relationship doomed to failure that everyone dreads. The titles are loaded with ironies while texts written within the works highlight further the artist’s thoughts and sentiments, and together they reveal situations that crippled the blossoming of an otherwise happy ending. . Suggesting redemption, the exhibit’s title reads as a string of apologetic words interrupted by a strikethrough, a gesture that attempts to erase regrets that may come from closing a life chapter. It is a line that crosses out previous mistakes and seeks to regain everything that is lost after a period of enduring suffering, a mark that purges what needs to be forgotten and obliterated as one starts life anew.

Rage in Technicolor Her palette and figuration may at first mislead viewers into thinking they have stumbled upon a festive gathering of happy thoughts, cutesy musings, and innocent wonder. This impression quickly fades as the compositions reveal content ranging from the dark and troubling, to gloomy and depressing—nothing naïve nor cheerful about them. Gripping with details such as mutilated body parts, infliction of pain, suicide, or episodes of anxiety and distress, the works of Yeo Kaa actually deals with the darker side of life, just candy-coated with pastel and luminous shades, and told using doll-figured tableaux. While drawing mostly from personal narratives, the imagery of her art converses easily with common human experiences, thus expanding into broader reflections about humanity and society. In this set of works, she alludes to the some bitter realities of contemporary life, particularly its extremely competitive nature and the drive of greed that creates exploitative relations and systems. We live in a world in which everything has a price tag, suggested in the paintings by a list where animal meat and humans go together on sale, and a head likewise packed and appraised. Milking cash out of the individual knows no limit: even in a lifeless state, a cadaver with torso ripped open generates money as someone poses a snapshot with it. From the poses, gestures, and expressions of other figures combined with recurring scribblings of texts, what emerges is a feeling of betrayal and exhaustion, a rant and protest that one has been sucked dry and has had enough. A call for escape seems to linger; a denouncement of a vicious cycle. These pieces could remind us that the ugly side of a society ruled by the game of survival of the fittest is oftentimes made more covert and clandestine by an enticing, attractive façade, just like how the intense confrontation between a fed-up persona and the exploitative system depicted in the works is partly concealed by their colors and stylization. They may also imply the very ills of a consumer society in which the glossy and glittering promise of material goods, luxuries, wealth, and possession is what pushes individuals to turn cunning and exploit. But this appearance of a pleasant surface may also be a strength. Striking and eye-catching, it allows the voice that rejects the system to be more amplified. Text by N.M. Marquez

Manila, Philippines

September 12-15, 2019

August 8 - September 4, 2019

But the appeal of the compositions need not be anchored on the peculiar or unusual, for these thoughts and concerns may creep into any individual at any part of the day. These are all common images that confront the mind, imagined and configured by the artist into a realm of pastel colors and figuration reminiscent of animation. 2:55 AM may be a fleeting and insignificant moment before another day breaks, but it could also be the perfect time for introspection.

FEBRUARY 21-24, 2019

Anxious Lustless Pechay Filipino artist Yeo Kaa takes a turn in her explorations of the monsters that torment the human psyche and plays on disruptions to bodily craving for pleasure in her latest solo exhibition. The works confront female loss of sexual drive due to stress and anxiety through metaphors and references to the body. The word “pechay” in the title refers to Chinese cabbage, one of the euphemisms for female genitalia in her local slang, and is described in a state when it ceases to respond to self-pleasure. Images of sex toys, underwear, and a girl in nude seemingly in distress nonchalantly open up discussions on desire and sexuality. In this instance of loss of lust, the works indirectly become the artist’s outlet, a purging akin to an orgasmic experience that restores the body and mind’s natural vitality and responsiveness of the senses. Known for her eye-candy colors and figuration style reminiscent of cartoons and animations, Yeo Kaa is a young Filipino artist whose works’ themes and subjects contrast sharply from the pop vibe evoked by her imagery. A graduate of Advertising from the College of the Holy Spirit in Manila, she has exhibited widely in the Philippines and has participated in international residencies, in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, and Haukijarvi, Finland. She is particularly interested in dark themes such as depression, suicide, and anxiety, among others, both drawn from personal experiences as well as general observations of human tendencies.