Born
in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Yvonne was raised by her dad who loves Chinese
painting and calligraphy, mum who knows how to draw only apples, an older
brother and an older sister who are both very talented in drawing (but later
discovered that they have an even bigger talent in the world of Finance). Her
passion in art started since she was a baby, when at 1 year old she drew over
dad’s prized stamp collection with a ball point pen. At 6 she started entering
various drawing, art and crafts competitions, bringing home all sorts of little
prizes and trophies. At 8, as she had very little pocket money, Yvonne started
capitalising on her ‘fame’ as the little artist at school – she handmade little
booklets out of A4 papers and drew cartoons on the cover, which she sold to her
classmates for 20cents each, or traded them for stickers. This was of course,
unknown to her parents until much, much later.
Yvonne's
interest lies in the relation between architecture and everyday banality. She
believes that there is a hidden game in everyday's life and she seeks to present it
with a sense of humour. This is where she draws her inspiration from - the
little things in life.
'To the Greeks téchne
means neither art nor handicraft but rather to make something appear, within
what is present.' ~Martin Heidegger, Building Dwelling Thinking, 1971.
One of
Yvonne’s all time favourite artists is Jimmy Liao, a brilliant Taiwanese
illustrator who is also a children’s picture book writer. His illustrations are
wild in imaginations, daring in the use of vibrant colours, meticulous and
confident in line drawings – giving the otherwise banal everyday things a
colourful life. The main characters in his illustrations often appear small in
the foreground, suggesting the viewpoint of a child in the big wide world, with
a sense of loneliness.
The
other artist whom Yvonne has a great admiration of is Banksy, a British street
artist who has left his work on streets, walls, bridges all over the world. She
was (still is) upset and angry when two of Banksy's distinctive stencil wall
art pieces in Melbourne were destroyed by thoughtless peanuts.
Yvonne
now lives in Melbourne with her wonderful husband (an IT programmer who is also
a builder), their 8 year old Greyhound, Little Man, a 3 year old Jack Russel
Terrier, Pinky the Troublemaker, and a chubby little 6 year old Chihuahua,
Nilie.
