Don’t pass by Yeo Kaa at Yavuz Gallery

Arts & Entertainment Exhibitions Scene

Rita Bratovich
November 29, 2022

Image: Yeo Kaa, carriage no. 1, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 78.8 x 104.1 cm. Image: yavuzgallery.com

At first glance, her artwork looks like it was drawn using half a bag of lollies after having consumed the other half, but on closer inspection – and it’s worth a closer inspection – Yeo Kaa’s pastel-coloured, cartoon-like images have a sinister subtext.

The 27-year old Filipino artist is gaining a big following in the art scene. She may have studied advertising but with a string of awards and several solo exhibitions in Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Germany, already under her belt, it looks like her future is set as a professional artist.

Yeo Kaa, carriage no. 2, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 78.8 x 35.7 cm. Image: yavuzgallery.com

Don’t Worry About Me! I’m Just Passing By! is Kaa’s fourth solo exhibition at Yavuz Gallery in Surry Hills. The collection is themed around a train journey, with blurs of some images intimating movement. For the display, the gallery space has been transformed into a train platform, giving a fully immersive experience.

Though the paintings in this exhibition have Kaa’s signature pastel colours and children’s book quality, the content is cynical, commenting on the inconsequential nature of modern encounters, the rapid impermanence of given moments.

Yavuz Gallery was established in Singapore in 2010 and Sydney in 2019, and is a leading gallery in modern Asia-Pacific art. It champions established and emerging artists from around the world whose work comments on and confronts social issues and norms.