Finn Slough and Other Stories.

Jay Yao | Solo Exhibition

“Finn Slough and Other Stories”.

What constitutes a pictorial expression? Finn Slough and Other Stories serve as an impetus to probe into the visual production of a picture. In a time when data and algorithms heavily influence the way visuality is constructed– its representation, its truth, its meaning, and its interpretation– Jay Yao navigates three different systems of production: a digital camera, through machine learning software, and a phone camera.

The juxtaposition of the first two technologies and methodologies is not necessarily aimed at polarization instead, it conversely surveys the gaps and openly acknowledges other possibilities in the infinite iterations of both non-abstracted and abstracted representations. The re-representation of an existing photograph by supplying sets of data and predetermined aesthetics speculates on the manner of cognition and recognition based on the preconceived compositionality of a picture. The use of phone cameras, on the other hand, speaks of access to the visual economy using the available (new and soon to be obsolete) technologies and reveals the ever-shifting social values of the users which eventually shape society’s visual culture.

Finn Slough, a small fishing community in British Columbia in Canada, is a popular subject among artists and photographers intrigued by the charm of the old and seemingly desolated village.
Returning to his roots, he presents photographs which iterations translate into software-generated images printed in various formats. Yao uses words that describe the figurations found in the photographs and combines them with the names of painters from Western art history to allude to and produce a certain kind of aesthetic value. Here, the set of metadata informs the visual language of the abstracted iteration of the photo resulting in the unison of both foreground and background, and in the harmonious blending of unrelated subjects and variegated colors. A contrast to his time-lapse video work, the photographs depicted Finn Slough in a particular moment in time– frozen, withered, and yet its full glory remains.

Inspired by On Kawara, Yao captures the passage of time through a series of time-lapse videos of the skies he shot from his window in Metro Manila. Contemplating on the days that have passed in isolation, he documents the same view of the sky —the fast-moving clouds, the shifting hues, and the fleeting moment itself. For the artist, the video installation on looped is the closest point to observing the daily occurrence of the earth moving around the sun, a phenomenon that people are aware of but oftentimes left unnoticed.

It is a reminder of how time, in its own course, never feels like a rhythmical steady beat but a kind of pulsation that can either feel slower or faster depending on the moment. The recordings in vertical orientation reimagine a landscape setting consisting of numerous parts but all sharing the same horizon line as a whole.
In a large wall-bound photo featuring the controversial and probably one of the most photographed places during the pandemic, Manila Bay’s so-called dolomite beach is shown with tourists taking pictures of the man-made attraction. A public gathering that raised concerns over the risks of becoming chaotic is contrarily depicted as serene and orderly in the photo.
Finn Slough and Other Stories is Yao’s preoccupation with the interrelations between humans and technology. The works, two years in the making, are referent to the potential of technology dominating the ways contemporary visual materials are constructed. As the artist makes sense of such realities, Yao recognizes that the generative context and meaning of the works remain open to interpretations.

Words By: James Luigi Tana

“Finn Slough and Other Stories” is on view from April 23 - May 14, 2022

Join the opening night on Saturday, April 23.