Morning Eyes by Yameng Lee Thorp

Yameng Lee Thorp is a mixed-media painter based in Oakland, California. Born in Kaifeng, China, she moved with her family to South Africa in the early 90s, where she spent many of her formative years before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Growing up in South Africa revealed many juxtapositions; between her own Chinese cultural heritage and that of Africa, a place of both extreme natural beauty and a deeply troubled history of discrimination. While her work is abstract, her family’s immigration journey, which included exile, jarring experiences of political tumult as well as shocking cultural differences forms the subconscious layers of her work. She sees her work as a quiet rebellion against repression through an ever-expressive medium that is complex, playful and visually expansive.

Her work draws inspiration ranging from the inky landscapes of Zhang Daqian, the soft watercolors of Paul Klee, the dream-realm paintings of Louise Bourgeois, to the textures and patterns on the costumes of African ceremony-dancers. She works very loosely with paint, pigments sticks and charcoal on large sheets of paper, raw canvas or wood, depicting surreal scenes that incorporate the natural world.

Now six years into her practice, with no gallery representation and several US exhibitions, she is at a critical and exciting juncture to evolve this vocabulary into a new body of work that is rich, complex and highly personal.