Bright neon pops of color and wide-eyed anime-inspired girls—these are the very first details that catch the uninitiated eye when entering a room full of Yeo Kaa’s works. But the longer one lingers and the closer one looks, darker themes begin to emerge.
In her latest exhibit, Yes, Master!! Yes, Master!! Yes, Master!!, which opened last November 9 at Blanc Gallery, Filipino artist Yeo Kaa’s unmistakable style further explores violence, trauma, and exploitation through a unique form of storytelling.
Donning animal hats and each uniquely painted with various motifs, Yeo Kaa’s familiar models decorate the rooms of the gallery to talk about something different: in Yes, Master!! Yes, Master!! Yes, Master!!, Yeo Kaa delves into the exploitation of domesticated and captive animals, and the similarities we share with them.
“Ang limang hayop na pinili ko ay yung dog, cat, cow, pig, at bunny,” she explains. “Sila yung mga sobrang cute pero ang pinakamadali din i-dispose. Na-realize ko na parang ganun din tayo.”
Yeo Kaa
The exhibit is divided into four rooms, each one acting as a chapter to the story Yeo Kaa wants to share with us. Resin girls in various compromising positions—some with their hands behind their backs and others on all fours—are trapped inside a mirrored box to be gawked at through small window slits, allowing viewers to voyeuristically pick and choose their favorites.
The walls of a strikingly pink room, adorned with multi-colored girls in poses that hark back to the animals they wear on their heads but that seem to be enticing us at the same time, surround a table with more resin girls and the words “success guaranteed” painted across it.
A large white room holds a chest freezer with a girl stuffed in it and her organs spilling out, as well as deceivingly bright paintings with tired-looking subjects in restraints and leashes, covered in blood, or lined up in a row of chairs; the latter with a singular figure standing up as it if to say, in Yeo Kaa’s words,
“fuck it, ayoko na.”
All of these culminate in a wall of animal masks that viewers can pick from, put on, and enter a room with distorted mirrors only to realize that they, too, are part of this story.
Yeo Kaa’s art is as refreshing as it is sobering and divisive; entering a gallery bursting with color can easily fill anyone up with giddy, almost childish excitement. Yet at the same time, the dark and often disturbing imagery can also leave one feeling deeply unsettled. But this is the beauty of her work—as in life, what’s colorful or beautiful on the surface may in actuality be the contrary.
“Sa ibang tao, nakikita lang nila ang masaya, hindi nila alam kung okay ka ba talaga. Ganun lang din ang paintings ko: mukha siyang masaya, iisipin mo, ‘ay, colorful ‘to at nakakasaya ‘to,’ but when you give it your full attention, mare-realize mo na hindi naman pala ganun. Kagaya siya sa ibang tao, gaya siya sa akin.”
Yes, Master!! Yes, Master!! Yes, Master!! runs until November 30 at Blanc Gallery.
Photos by Miguel Tarrosa
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