Artists to Watch | Yer (Za) Vue

Abstraction, expressionism, & impressionism

Yer (Za) Vue, Cerulean Blue, oil, 16 x 20.

Subject matter is no longer the primary driver of Oregon artist Yer (Za) Vue’s work. Instead, the medium and its application take precedence in her masterfully impastoed, abstracted work. The award-winning artist, inspired by Nicolai Fechin’s oeuvre, applies generous layers of oil or oil-mixable paint, sometimes in tandem and directly onto the surface of old paintings, to achieve the desired effects. “I don’t see ‘things’ anymore,” Vue says. “I just see shapes and am drawn to rhythm, movement, and energy. My paintings look representational from a distance, but when viewed up close, the colors and strokes are so broken that the subject is unrecognizable.”

Vue’s painting style, a sublime mash-up of abstraction, expressionism, and impressionism, is supported by her consummate drawing skills. “A painting may look loose, but underneath the chaos is a solid foundation of harmony,” she confides. Those skills were honed professionally over the years, as her passion for drawing and painting led her to the Kansas City Art Institute, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration. After internships at Hallmark Cards and Walt Disney Feature Animation, she relocated to Orlando, FL, where she spent more than a decade working for the Disney studio on shorts and traditional animated films, including Pocahontas, Mulan, and Lilo & Stitch.

A cross-country move 15 years ago from the Sunshine State to the Pacific Northwest—and the transition from commercial art to fine art—is a testament to Vue’s joyful pursuit of constant rejuvenation and growth. These days, she teaches at Portland’s Pacific Northwest College of Art, as well as four other institutions, runs her own studio, and holds twice-weekly plein-air painting classes. After years of in-studio figure painting, Vue took up plein-air painting a decade ago “to better understand how light impacts color” at the recommendation of watercolorist Yong Hong Zhong, a Disney associate and longtime friend.

The recent subject of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Art Beat, Vue takes an ebulliently philosophical approach to painting and to life: “Don’t just focus on the destination, or you’ll miss the fun along the way.” Stitch couldn’t have said it better himself. —Beth Williams

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Art On The Boulevard, Vancouver, WA; www.yerzavue.com.

This story appeared in the December 2021/January 2022 issue of Southwest Art magazine.