As we enter a new year, it can’t be helped that certain traumas and feelings muster up the strength to still affect us to this day. Be it past experiences, present predicaments or future anxieties, these invisible ghosts lie insidious in the dark, holding and waiting for us to succumb to them.
For his fifth solo exhibition, artist Yao Sampana presents us with “Behind the Shadows”, a somber exposition of portraits unveiling the abstract hauntings that plague us in our everyday. The artist brandishes his signature use of bluish-hued figures over dark backgrounds and red curtains to personify one’s struggles, providing for stark contrasts between saturated and desaturated tones, a power play of sorts towards the grim subject matter and the humanity behind coping with them. Inspired by his personal journey in confronting the invisible demons that hamper his creative ventures, the show aims to recognize, materialize and accept these negativities as part of one’s growth. Yao Sampana’s drive to overcome what haunts him is evident in his use of grasping hands and contorted figures; his hyperrealist technique evident as it provides for visceral images of despair and ultimately, acceptance.
