Guimi You

For Guimi You, art is tender and nostalgic. With a palette of pale colours and soft tones, her work has a transportive quality. Each painting has a sense of magic infused within it. Dreamy skies, otherworldly scenes and fanatical animals are brought together with oil on linen. You’s inspiration often begins with a walk. Sometimes in the garden, or on her daily journey to the studio. These walks remind her of unlimited possibilities – the ability to find beauty everywhere. As a child, You admired surrealists including Salvador Dali and René Magritte.Their obscure approach to everyday objects and imaginary realities can be seen in her enigmatic paintings.

You’s work celebrates parenthood and domestic life. “I’m choosing my daily life as a subject-matter because, except for this, there’s nothing.” Inspired by her family, she borrows elements from her son’s kindergarten workbooks, especially the simplicity of colour used for children’s books and stories. She incorporates numbers, cutting, colouring and pasting paper. Like hazy memories from childhood, her figures often don’t have faces. This lack of facial features create an anonymity of experience. You’s works symbolise boundless worlds, daydreams and a sense of childlike amazement.