Created By
Yaya Lo
Oil on canvas
Curator
Jonathan Thomson
”No Swimming (Set of 4)” are a group of genre scenes all derived from a day at the beach when the conditions were too rough or perhaps affected by a strong rip-tide to allow swimming. Lo uses a range of views to convey people’s responses to being denied what they had wanted to do. In one, a group of figures gaze at the sea, perhaps assessing for themselves the actual level of danger. In others, dogs don’t let the danger stop them form gambolling about off the leash. Another brings the danger sign into close focus. Collectively they have a rather cinematic storyboarding quality.
This series of paintings was inspired by a number of photos that I shot in Gold Coast Beach, Australia, capturing a number of citizens and travelers enjoying relaxing afternoon break on the beach, without noticing the potential danger of the weather. I created this series of paintings by putting various characters and the warning sign together contradictingly to reform the composition in order to suggests a feeling of insecure and uncanny. 40 x 50 x 3.5 cm, 20 x 20 x 5cm
Created By
Yaya Lo
50 x 40 cm | 20 x 16 in
Unframed
4 cm | 1 in
2020
