Downturn

This self portrait is an expressive representation of the facial and emotional downturn.

The pliable quality of the skin is made sinuous with dynamic strokes, animating the face. The only exception to this style is in the mattified teardrop, solid in a way that contrasts the otherwise morphing nature of the face, drawing the eye to the tear as an immutable ornament or jewel.

Drawing exaggerated features too large for the art piece’s boundaries, Yang has created a moment that has crystallised the out-of-proportional feeling of melancholic outburst, one that feels claustrophobic, larger than life.

Yang comments:

“Capturing Asian features in full emotionality has been an important practice for me, to channel and embrace my own grieving, as well as to create permission for vulnerability to be expressed in Asian culture, one that quietly and dutifully carries intergenerational trauma.”

printed on Giclée Hahnemühle Bamboo

If you are interested in a framed version of this piece, click here.