viralbandit
Gwen Yip spends her days painting the faces of those she knows, and the backs of those she doesn’t. Having lived and worked in cities around the world, the NYC-based artist beautifully explores the experience of isolation associated with city life in her series, ‘Backs’.
Separated by city: NYC, Hong Kong and London, the acrylic paintings from each portray loneliness as a universal experience. The lack of identity invites viewers to fill in the blanks of a narrative only partially suggested by the body language of unrecognizable characters and the connotations of color. Accompanying the series, Gwen’s artist statement reads, “We all carry things on our backs. Some shoulder burdens and regrets and others carry dreams and hopes. Some scarcely bear them and others delightedly bring them wherever they go. What do you carry on your back?”
