YveYANG is thrilled to participate in the Presents section of The Armory Show 2025 with a duo exhibition of new and recent works by Anastazie Anderson and Alissa Ritter. Bringing two distinct practices into dialogue, the presentation offers fresh perspectives within the fair’s dynamic program.

Anderson's Children of Paradise (after the 1945 film) is a series based on close-ups of children from cinema. Aside from exploring the face, the series considers the moral ambiguity of childhood and of children themselves. The characters are involved in morally ambiguous situations in their respective films, challenging the idea of innocence usually associated with children. In this case, “paradise” becomes a metaphor for the virtual realm of art (cinema and painting) and an exploration of how this realm has represented children.

The possibilities of each painting are carefully worked out in numerous studies, used to experiment with color, tone, and composition, and to identify what is most compelling in the original image. Equally crucial is the capture and articulation of nuances that make the child’s face recognizably childlike. Only after this long process of careful planning are the paintings themselves undertaken. Each painting is completed in a single session in order to maintain the immediacy of the experience of the original image. Working in one session allows the paint to interact with itself (often wet on wet) and brings greater expressiveness to each brushstroke, which counterbalances the areas of flatness. This preserves the bold composition of the image while also allowing the viewer to linger on moments within the painting.

Ritter’s wall-mounted dog heads evoke childhood. They resemble Gummibärchen (gummy bears), made less friendly by their steel and fiberglass as they guard the corner of the room. Waiting for their masters, they recall loyalty, consumption, and eugenics.