Yip’s work derives from an absurdist experience of the world. Rooted in a daily life that is getting faster, more complex and tries to be as efficient as possible. For Yip this absurdity is grounded in the way acceleration and complexity shift familiar life patterns. To contradict this he takes inspiration from traditions that don’t fit a narrative of efficiency, like parades, carnival and other folk traditions. These traditions become methods to re-enchant the world. Not only to give greater expression to play, but also to encourage attachment to irrational experiences. Wonder combined with absurdity provokes a sense that becomes non-sense, a refreshment that makes room for the new sense of things.
Yip’s sculptures are a combination of found materials and self-made objects that occur as body parts. This creates a sense of tactility and usability that moves between temptation and disruption. Yip mentions the importance of using the body as the receptor in order to not think through the head, but rather think through physicality.
The wheel is a recurring object in his oeuvre. It mobilises the works and transforms them to actors. These strange parade wagons make us think ‘’where do they come from, and where are they going to?’’ In the end these carnivalesque sculptures don’t offer an escape from the absurdities of our daily life, they rather offer a way to grasp this and swing them in a different direction.
