Born in 1936, Thomas Yeo graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1960. He then studied in Chelsea School of Art and Hammersmith College of Art and Architecture in London. Since then, Yeo has participated in more than 100 solo and group exhibitions and in 1984, he was awarded the Cultural Medallion. Broad planes of vivid colours dominate in this bold yet effective composition. Red Earth is distinctively recognisable landscape, one where the domains of earth and sky are clearly delineated and are representationally coloured. Unlike more conventional landscapes however, the viewer seems to be presented with cross-sectional view of the land. The bands of deep colour are further marked out by the rows of vertical brushstrokes, which suggest multiple layers of strata – almost as if painting plumbs into the very depths of the earth itself.
