VMF Academy Collection Artist: Priscilla Yu
Priscilla Yu is a Vancouver-based illustrator and artist specializing in murals, creative direction, graphic design and surface design projects. Her work is inspired by both the perceivable patterns found in everyday life through textiles, design, and architecture, as well as nature’s universal patterns on both the macro and micro scale. Through abstracted points of perspective and a geometric language, she creates worlds that dwell in a strange gravity mixed with personal symbology. Her process often employs stylistic constraints as a means to draw out subconscious imagery.
Priscilla has exhibited work internationally in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Shanghai. She has painted murals in festivals including HK WALLS (Hong Kong), Pow! Wow! DC (Washington DC), Belltown Corridor Murals (Seattle) and Vancouver Mural Festival (Vancouver BC).
Her work with VMF has resulted in four outstanding murals, the most recent one titled “Bloom Inward II” was painted for VMF2020 as a reminder of “the resilience of both our communities and of self, as well as the value of isolation at times.” She also painted a mural for our #MakeArtWhileApart project at the start of the pandemic.
Priscilla’s piece for the VMF Academy Collection, “I’d Rather Be a Snake Than a Ladder”, boasts bold colours and a fun connection to the words of Canadian rapper and artist Tommy Genesis. We needed to know more, so we reached out to say hey and ask her a few questions.
VMF: There’s a reference to Canadian rapper and artist Tommy Genesis’ track ‘Execute’ with your piece. Can you expand on that for us?
PY: The piece and title was inspired by a line from that track. In the bridge, she raps ‘You see there’s leaders and there’s masters. I’d rather be a snake than a ladder’. I found that so badass and empowering.
The piece came as a freeflow as I started to sketch out a snake and ladder image. As I worked out the colours and opacities of the shapes, focusing mostly on creating a strong composition--where to place the dark ones and how to make the forms feel like they’re illuminating, lots of thoughts and imagery came to mind because that’s such a powerful line.
Aside from the imagery of the board game, ‘Snakes and Ladders’, where the snake sets you back and ladders get you ahead in the game, it made me think about the role of an artist versus a muse. Snakes are entities and ladders are useful objects. It also made me think about the historic symbol of snakes and its relation to the Biblical story of the world’s first woman and how she was blamed for the original sin.
I guess that’s how it works sometimes for me. I daydream and loose ideas gel not necessarily into the imagery in the work but always into the general vibe. I think from listening to the track, I wanted to make a piece that mirrored that empowering feeling. When I finally placed the ladder in the area of the head or mind of the snake, after playing with the scale, different placements, etc., it felt right to me. It felt like it could be a symbol of mentally ascending upwards or always growing/learning about yourself, and so I stopped there.
VMF: Your work never ceases to amaze us with its intricacy and unique details with overlapping textures and colours. Where do you generally start with your creation process?
PY: Thank you! My process varies depending on the project, but with personal pieces like this and my studio work, it always starts from my daily life. I always try to take time to pause and admire what I call “good combos” as in anything that I come across that is visually interesting or beautiful together. It’s usually to do with contrast. This is something that I started doing a lot back in art school.
Like I might find some split yellow mustard drip on grey pavement or a rusty orange pipe against a blue house and consider those to be good combinations, if they give me an instantly good feeling in my gut.
I imagine almost like the eyedropper tool in Photoshop, and take note of the colour of textures. The more a combination resonates with me, the easier it comes out when I’m selecting or mixing colours when I’m painting. My style comes from over a decade of drawing with specific constraints in mind (angles and straight lines only), but has really developed into something that comes out naturally now. When I finally get my pencil to paper or apple pencil to the tablet, I usually have a general theme or idea in mind but not really a composition in mind. The drawing process is often when I’ll daydream and mix the theme/direction, with intuitive colour combinations, and the practiced way that I stylistically draw fills in the gaps and brings me to the end result. It’s loose and structured at the same time.
VMF: What do you love the most about how your style has developed over the years?
PY: I love that it feels really natural to me and it feels like a language with laws that I can just use. It also kind of feels like an old friend that has consistently been there throughout the years. I also love that even though my style is kind of consistent, it still brings me surprises.
VMF: Favourite mural that you’ve painted? Don’t worry, we won’t be offended if it’s not VMF ;)
PY: That’s super tough to pick. I have a top 2. Definitely my most recent one with VMF in Gastown (‘Bloom Inward II’) and also the temporary mural I did for Guildford Town Centre in 2018 (‘Room of Curiosities’).
VMF: What else is on the horizon for you in 2021?
PY: I’ve been eagerly waiting to share some of the printed murals in other cities that I’ve been working on in the past months. I’ve also been working on some collaborations with local creatives. In the next few months, I’m planning to take some communication design courses to expand creatively into design and branding projects. I want to try new things, learn new skills, and push my artwork into different forms.
If you don’t have access to our Mobile App you can find Priscilla’s murals with the addresses below:
“Befriend Your Inner Demons” - 152 East 8th Avenue (in Main Alley)
“Spectrums” - 5639 Victoria Drive (North Facade)
“Golden Fish Yumcha” - 5639 Victoria Drive (West Facade)
“Bloom Inward” - 160 West Cordova