Sorry I Failed You— But I'm Happy Now

Yeo Kaa didn’t plan to be an artist, but here she is

- Pauline Miranda

When you hear the name “Yeo Kaa,” the colorful, bright (and yet dark) scenarios featuring a wide-eyed girl with the signature bob come to mind. The candy-colored paintings are exciting, but they often end up disturbing the viewer’s mind.

Her works are the center of attention at the two latest big art events in Manila. Instagram was filled with photos of her Alone But Not Lonely inflatable sculpture and pieces from her “Wud Ya Do It” exhibit during Art in the Park. The line to see her “I Don’t Know, Baby” installation crowded the last Art Fair Philippines. And those painted tiles? Gone in two hours.

Yeo is no stranger to this attention and demand.

And yet, she also is.

Creating art, exhibiting it, and even selling it was not part of her plans. Things just took their own course—as is the case in life.

Take this hot mid-afternoon: The sun’s rays peek through the small glass windows of Yeo’s home-cum-studio. Canvases of different sizes and stages of completion line one wall, while several finished pieces lean on adjacent ones. Another wall sports rows upon rows of acrylic paint tubes—it looks like an art supply store—alongside shelves filled with assorted paint brushes and small containers of half-used paint.

The floor is speckled with neon pinks, yellows, greens, and purples—colors common to Yeo’s growing body of work.

And then you’ll notice a line of round little paint blobs trailing all over the floor—pawprints.

Or maybe your eyes will catch the little furball first. “Fakey,” the artist fondly calls her Pomeranian.