« My art explores the essence of humanity. My passion is to use body language as an introduction to the context. Choosing my subjects is very intuitive. I go with what I feel. I take several photographs of my subjects; then, I combine them to express a definitive image through individually stained pieces of watercolor paper. When the work is complete, one will find a sense of truth, perhaps a moment that you’ve seen or experienced.
My aesthetic is visceral and expressive. What begins with a strictly defined intent, composition, and color scheme is rarely visible in the finished piece. Layers of cut and stained watercolor paper are strategically placed over rough sketches.
This is a shift in my artistic approach, in which the context now plays a significant role in the depiction of the individual(s). »
YoYo Lander’s arresting collages celebrate the beauty, strength, and vulnerability of her Black subjects. Lander highlights intricacies of bodies and movement and compellingly captures the demeanor of her subjects. She takes several photographs of each of her sitters to use as reference material, then combines those perspectives into singular compositions by layering cut pieces of dyed watercolor paper on top of canvas, resulting in textural, multihued bodyscapes.

YoYo Lander was born in Sumter, SC. She is an autodidact painter living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm, and Atlanta. Lander has also received numerous commissions, including ones for Beth Rudin DeWoody’s Bunker Art Space; Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles; and Kamala Harris’s Washington, D.C. office in 2017. She is part of many collections including The Petrucci Family Foundation – collection of African-American Art; Up Next Art Museum collection; Hill Harper Art Foundation. YoYo Lander was exposing at Zeitz MOCAA, as part of the group exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, with artists of the calibre of Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Zandile Tshabalala, Lynette Yiadom-Boaky, Amy Sherald.