AMY YAM

Stellar (Part 1 of the Dusk series)

Oil on canvas

61 x 92

September 2020

Stellar explores escapism from everyday life through the distortion of an image of my bedroom. I find my life constricted and lacklustre, Stellar explores my need to experience the freedom of outer space. The darker colors allude to outer space, and express the sense of awe and wonder I strive to feel in my daily life. Digital editing was used on my own photo to distort the shapes and colors of a photo of my bedroom, with the intention of melding the original image with a resemblance of outer space.

Celeste (Part 2 of the Dusk series)

Oil on canvas

61 x 92

March 2021

Celeste continues my exploration of escapism through the distortion of everyday objects realised in oil paint. It depicts a distorted image of a tray in my room containing my books, video games and trinkets. Like Stellar, the distortion and darker color is also used to illustrate a sense of outer space and the world beyond earth. Digital editing of my own reference photo was used to create the neon color scheme, and to blend the different shapes in the image together.

Ethereal Delirium (Part 1 of the Ethereal series)

Watercolor, Oil on canvas

91 x 122

November 2020

Ethereal Delirium explores the euphoria felt in escapism and freedom. Instant gratification from escapism can make us forget about our worries, and blind to reality. The intricate brushwork and the use of watercolor and oil glazing is meant to feel euphoric and blithe. The reference photo of a stationery stand was shot through a clear plastic bag. This created an effect with a dream-like quality, with shapes and colors melding together to create a new image, distorting the reality.

Ethereal Apparition (Part 2 of the Ethereal series)

Ethereal Apparition continues to explore euphoria, escapism and the melding of fantasy and reality. Like Ethereal Delirium, it is also a depiction of my stationery stand, and was painted using the same intricate style. The extreme distortion and surreal depiction of a mundane object explores the extent at which one can become detached from reality. A watercolor underpainting and glazing with oil was used over the lines to achieve the soft colors of the lighter areas, which add to the euphoria.

Séance (Part 1 of the Dread series)

Séance explores how panic can manifest even when escaping into fantasy. When one becomes too detached from reality, we tend to ignore and forget about our responsibilities, and they come back to haunt us in the form of panic, anxiety and guilt. I took a series of portraiture reference photos, which was then digitally collaged and manipulated. The disfigurement of facial features into a scream-like expression provokes an acute sense of fear. The vibrant domineering red is meant to overwhelm.

Incantation (Part 2 of the Dread Series)

Oil on Canvas

Incantation explores the constant presence of anxiety in escapism. In contrast to Séance, cool colors are more dominating. The same series of photographs were used to create a reference for this painting as well. The use of darker, cooler shades of red and magenta is meant to instill a sense of dread. Although escapism can bring instantaneous relief from oppression, boredom and problems, it doesn’t solve anything and can sometimes make it worse.

Spectre

Spectre is an appropriation of The Princesse de Broglie (1853), oil painting, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. The disfigurement of classical paintings to create macabre horror is not meant to deface or mock the style of art, but rather reflect my personal experience of freedom from societal expectations of my art. Traditionally, observational realism is seen as the standard of beauty in art, but in deforming these traditionally aspirational paintings, I pursue my own creative freedom.

Phantom

Oil on canvas

Phantom is an appropriation of Queen Alexandra (1864), oil painting, by Franz Winterhalter. Like Spectre, it explores freedom from societal norms through the use of distortion. Everyday life in this society feels oppressive, having been born female and queer in a patriarchal and heteronormative culture. Defacing what is traditionally seen as beautiful is both creatively and emotionally freeing. I have the ability to create art that may be considered traditionally beautiful, but I choose to create the art that I like instead.