Hales is delighted to announce representation of British painter Laetitia Yhap. Yhap's first solo show with the gallery will open in September 2023 at Hales London, followed by inclusion in the gallery's presentation at Frieze Art Fair in October.
Laetitia Yhap (b. 1941 London, UK) graduated from Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in 1962. Following her graduation, and, through the support of the Leverhulme Research Scholarship, she travelled to Italy for a year to research Renaissance art and architecture. In 1965, she gained her postgraduate degree from the Slade School of Fine Art. Yhap lives and works in Hastings, UK.
Yhap is best known for intricate paintings of fishermen on the beaches of Hastings, UK, created on unusually shaped panels individually hand-made by Yhap for each work. Born in England during the second world war, Yhap has Austrian and Chinese heritage, which, according to her, throughout her life created a feeling that she didn't belong. Finding solace in art making and, later, in the Hastings fishing community, she has forged a unique and important voice within British art history.
Yhap found early success through solo shows of non-figurative paintings at the prestigious Piccadilly Gallery, London, in 1968, 1970 and 1973. Moving out of London in 1967, she settled in Hastings, in the south-east of England, where she initially struggled with feelings of isolation as well as finding subject matter for her work. It wasn't until the mid 1970s that she discovered her calling to the fishing community and felt compelled to make works of the scenes that unfolded on the beach. Enraptured by the ritual of the fishermen's everyday activities, she began to draw from life before returning to her studio to make the paintings.
Each painting's unique shape is integral to the work. Yhap states, "When I have an idea to be worked out in paint, it does not sit in my mind's eye as a rectangle. It has an autonomy which somehow has to be interpreted. The shape I construct as a surface to work on is crucial, as that is what makes it possible to compose the painting or helps it to compose itself." The influence of her travels to Italy is evident in these works, echoing the shapes of frescoes as well as the humanist themes found in Renaissance paintings. Through these works, the labour of the fisherman became Yhap's theatre of events.
July 25, 2023
