Vanessa Liem Singaporean, 2002
The House is a Body, 2025
Oil on canvas
200 x 160 cm
Vanessa Liem’s paintings exist within an ethereal, airbrushed universe populated by biomorphic and oneric figures. At the heart of her practice is an interest in blurring the boundaries between the...
Vanessa Liem’s paintings exist within an ethereal, airbrushed universe populated by biomorphic and oneric figures. At the heart of her practice is an interest in blurring the boundaries between the surreal and the real—a visual strategy that mirrors Liem’s broader exploration of the interplay between the internal and external perception, or what we might call a “shared reality”.
Stemmed from her personal experience of mental health over the years, The House is a Body emerges from a desire to understand how observation—both observing and being observed—affects our mental state, bodily awareness, and sense of agency.
The painting becomes a stage exploring the nuances of vulnerability, visibility, and performance, a space where our psychological and physical awareness of our bodies intensifies. As Liem describes, the unique bodies in the work collaborate as a unit within her psyche, each compelled to exposure and made to perform in the light.
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