Gabriel Pek Bo Yang

My art practice begins with personal reflection, capturing the emotional changes and perspectives I go through at different points in my life. I try to see the world through my own eyes, reshaping scenes based on how I feel inside. Whether these moments are small and subtle or profound and life-changing, they give me a way to understand my emotions and how I relate to the world around me. This process of reflection is the core of what I call "psychological realism" in my work: a way of painting that goes beyond just showing what things look like on the outside, focusing instead on honestly expressing emotions. I often use figures as a way to project feelings like alienation, indifference, hesitation, or repression. While these figures come from real life, I rearrange them in my compositions to create a certain mood and psychological depth. Through the way I compose the scene, the space between elements, and subtle body language, I hope to turn personal emotions into images that connect with viewers on a deeper level. By paying close attention to how I react in different social and interpersonal situations, I try to distil these experiences into images that go beyond simple documentation— creating psychological portraits of my inner world. This approach helps me reflect on my feelings and better understand how they shape my view of the world. What I want is for viewers to not just see the figures and spaces in my paintings, but also feel the unspoken psychological tension beneath. This subtle but genuine emotional presence makes the work a place for emotional connection, helping me continually explore the relationship between myself and others, and between my inner world and the outside, through my art.