Self taught painter Yu He’s acrylic still lifes and landscapes capture everyday scenes with an expressive palette and painterly brushwork. Born in China and living in the United States, the artist’s abstracted compositions offer a playful take on traditional subject matter. She tilts the perspective, eliminates detail, and blurs background and foreground in her works, creating a whimsical effect that challenges the connotations of still life painting.
The artist's Still Life No. 498 depicts a typical tablescape with loose, quick brushstrokes, the cool, blue palette lending a sense of calm to the images. The combination of fruits, flowers, and tableware is portrayed with thickly painted turquoise, auburn, and yellow strokes. Horizon lines and fine details are excluded from this tablescape, allowing teacups, blooms, and vases to float in imaginative, richly pigmented environments. Meanwhile, seascapes Seaside. Evening No. 442 and Seaside. Evening No. 479 capture a peachy pink and aqua sunset, the brilliant twilight sky mirrored in the calm waters.
