2022 MFA Thesis Exhibition

Rachel Yeoh’s works articulate her fascination with surrealist pursuits and psychological escapes. They depict the touchstones of worlds she conjures in her psychic quest for autonomy, resolution, and peace. The artist draws on creatures from mythology and folklore, combining their historical and literary significance with domestic settings and digital iconography to connect those from her childhood to those at the forefront of contemporary modern life.

With Keeper (2022) and Imposition (2022), the artist contemplates the use of mythological and fictional creatures in reflecting on and processing the culture shock and displacement felt by many due to the global pandemic. Yeoh’s paintings activate a dialogue and narrative around the Form, a fantastical character she has imagined. The works flesh out the Form’s existence within multiple environments, exploring its power in purging our world of the misery and despair it holds.

Keeper depicts the interaction of the Form with a golden goose: the Form reflects its gilded cage and swells with leaves and curling vines to release it from its entrapment. Meanwhile, Imposition negotiates multiple painting styles and planes of bright colors to introduce the Form to the Pegasus. In this paradisiacal haven, the environment has become parasitic too.

Rachel Yeoh (b. 1997, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) grew up in Malaysia and moved to the United Kingdom as a teenager, staying on thereafter to undertake a combined degree in Politics, Philosophy and Law at King’s College London. Although she attained the appropriate qualifications to pursue a career in the Law, she decided instead to follow her passion for fine art. She moved from London to New York City in the Fall of 2019, and she is completing her second year of the MFA Fine Arts program at Parsons School of Design/The New School.