Where is this hope on Earth?
MARCH, 64 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009
Nov 3–Dec 16, 2023

MARCH is pleased to announce the gallery’s first exhibition with Brooklyn-based artist Phyllis Yao, a presentation of recent, non-sequential paintings born from patient inquiry. Drawing from sources as diverse as a traditional meal, the remarkable details of the quotidian, and lived experiences of helplessness and awe, these paintings position life as a collection of wonderful and fearsome curiosities.

There exist some rare and sacred sensations which escape explanation. Like déja vu or shivers down the spine, Yao’s paintings engage with time, joining the present and distant history. Plush, freshly-made dumplings are cradled in a hand-made dish, sustenance born from an ancient recipe. The crowns of beloved children’s heads reflect the patterns that go on, endlessly, here and elsewhere. Yao asks us: What does it feel like to get lost in a book? Elsewhere, she questions: Where is this hope on Earth?

The thesis of these paintings direct their articulation; the resulting paintings possess a refined symbology, entire in their essence. In preparation for The Arts and Crafts of Turkestan, Yao projected images over a model, illuminating a state that before could only be felt. Dog Plate was rotated over and over on the studio wall, the details regularly adjusted to convey a particular vision. Active colors reach beyond mere description, constructing an emotional world specific to each scene. The dry, rough strokes of Homage to my students 1 echo the uneven texture of a young student’s collograph print. Light glows from within Turkestan, creating a sense of sureness and safety forged from countless layers of translucent oil paint.

Where is this hope on Earth? reflects a masterful integration of precision and experimentation, a body of work where searing emotions and gentle musings coexist. Insular paintings are united in expressions of wonder, paranoia, helplessness, and humor. They speak to a life in process, the fleeting and ongoing stories inseparable from one true, inescapable identity.

Phyllis Yao was born in 1994 in Queens, NY. She holds a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has previously exhibited at the Chinese American Arts Council (CAAC)/Gallery 456 (New York, NY), Hales Gallery (New York, NY), and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery (New York NY), among others. She has been an artist-in-residence at Lijiang Studio (Yunnan Province, China) and Shandaken: Storm King (New Windsor, NY). She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.