Finding

Following her celebrated debut at Michael Reid Murrurundi, Yan Guo’s second full-scale exhibition marks an exciting evolution in the Shanghai-born, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist’s distinctive graphic style.

Sharpening her striking juxtaposition of painterly approaches, Guo sets silhouetted figures engaged in sporting pursuits against airbrushed, pattern-like fields of abstracted florals. Pole-vaulters arc, wrestlers embrace and sprinters are caught mid-stride as the clash of painterly techniques skews spatial perspective – flattening athletic or childlike subjects at play against soft-focus grounds.

Rich in colour and optical play, the paintings compress pictorial depth into vivid, pastel-neon planes, extending Guo’s signature oscillation between airbrush and brush into a lively study of strength, grace and the spaces we move through.

For enquiries, please email amandamackinlay@michaelreid.com.au