Invitation to Elsewhere: New works by Yameng Lee Thorp (Jul. 16-Aug. 28)

Invitation to Elsewhere:
New works by Yameng Lee Thorp

July 16-August 28, 2022

The Compound Gallery is pleased to announce a solo show featuring new works by artist Yameng Lee Thorp – Invitation to Elsewhere. Lee Thorp uses color and shape to create perspective that echos otherworldly places and objects that might reside in such habitats. Lee Thorp’s spirited works are a mood. Her work brings familiarity and compels further inquiry as if to clarify to the viewer…Is this a still life? Fauna? Terrain? A silhouette? A portal to elsewhere? The selection of works showcased in Invitation to Elsewhere reflect Lee Thorp’s varied approaches to creating. Each purposed mark appears effortless and fluid. Each piece is unpredictable. Invitation to Elsewhere will feature original mixed media paintings and collages and select works on paper that will remain on display from July 16th -August 28th at The Compound Gallery in Emeryville, CA.

“My family emigrated to South Africa from China when I was 12. My attachment to both places runs deep and still drives my work today. Growing up in South Africa revealed many juxtapositions; between my own Chinese cultural heritage and that of Africa, a place of both extreme natural beauty and a deeply troubled history of discrimination.

A decade ago I emigrated again, making the East Bay hills our home. These profound shifts in place stirred complex feelings. About 5 years ago, I started making abstract drawings and discovered a powerful sense of liberty and ownership to create a new artistic language of my own.

The natural world is a central motif in my work, a way to reconcile the juxtapositions of the present, past and future. Up till now, my work has drawn inspiration from the ecology of South Africa I left behind and that of my new home, the chaparral forests of the East Bay. Ecology, both real and imagined, provides the stage for my abstract paintings to unpack and explore how I feel about the world.”

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