Illustration · 2025
Ephemeral Vitality
by Jas Yu
Ephemeral Vitality explores the fluid boundary between the human body and the natural world. Through layered figuration and symbolic imagery, Jas presents femininity as a shifting, permeable condition—continuously shaped by memory, instinct, and cultural constructs.
Across the series, bodies dissolve into animals, flora, and gestural traces of paint. Fish, swans, and serpents move through the figures as symbolic presences, suggesting intrusion, coexistence, and transformation. Rather than fixed identities, the works dwell in states of becoming.
Loose brushwork, dripping pigments, and fragmented forms evoke a sense of instability and temporality. The body emerges as a site where internal emotion and external forces intersect—never fully resolved, always in transition.
In Ephemeral Vitality, the female figure is not an object, but a space of negotiation—between vulnerability and agency, desire and distance. Meaning remains open, shifting, and alive.
Project Details
Artist
Jas Yu
Year
2025
Medium
Oil on Canvas, Woodblock Prints
Dimensions
36×48, 24×36, 16×16 inches
Location
New York, NY
Artist Statement
My name is Jas, and I am an artist based in New York. My practice focuses on figurative illustration and symbolic storytelling, and I have been actively engaged in projects that explore themes of femininity, cultural identity, and the relationship between human emotion and nature. This series represents my ongoing exploration into femininity and cultural symbolism, reflecting my interest in female subjectivity and the poetic connection between the human body and the natural world.
— Jas
Interested in This Work?
For inquiries or more information, please contact:
info.unbriefed@gmail.com
Works
01 / 08
Entangled Body
In this work, the human body merges with animal structures, dissolving the boundary between self and other. Loose, fluid brushstrokes blur distinctions between flesh and bone, suggesting a fragile yet primal state of being. The figure becomes a vessel of emotional residue, evoking a cyclical relationship between femininity and the natural world.
02 / 08
Constructed Grace
The composition weaves together a female face, a swan, and blooming forms into a fragmented visual field. Symbols of purity and grace are destabilized, breaking into painterly fragments that resist a fixed reading. The work reflects on how femininity is constructed, idealized, and reassembled through cultural imagery.
03 / 08
Act of Presence
Here, the figure engages in an intimate act of consumption while confronting the viewer's gaze. The immediacy of the gesture, combined with dripping pigment and distorted form, transforms a mundane action into a symbolic assertion of presence. Desire, vulnerability, and embodiment converge, emphasizing the body as a site of emotional expression.
04 / 08
Intrusion of Memory
Rendered in a flattened, graphic language, this piece introduces a fish piercing through the figure's head. The fish functions as a metaphor for memory, fluidity, and intrusive thought. Within the restrained composition, the female subject appears suspended between interior consciousness and external symbolic forces.
05 / 08
Soft Disruption
This variation adopts a gentler palette and a more subdued emotional tone. While the fish continues to disrupt bodily integrity, its presence feels less confrontational and more contemplative. The work leans toward introspection, suggesting a quiet negotiation between self-awareness and external influence.
06 / 08
Tension Within
With heightened contrast and sharper structural definition, this version intensifies the subject's gaze and presence. The vivid coloration of the fish amplifies visual tension, reinforcing a sense of intrusion while simultaneously suggesting coexistence. The work highlights the ongoing negotiation between identity and imposed symbolism.
07 / 08
Coiled Intimacy
Dominated by cool, aqueous hues, this painting evokes a dreamlike, almost submerged atmosphere. The serpent coils around the figure in a relationship that is both intimate and unsettling. As a symbol of transformation, desire, and danger, it reflects the layered complexity of female subjectivity, where vulnerability and power intertwine.
08 / 08
Suspended Self
In this work, the figure appears more intact, yet emotionally withdrawn. Cooler tones and subtle distortions create a sense of distance, as if the subject exists in a state of quiet suspension. Unlike earlier works where the body is actively fragmented or intruded upon, here the tension is internalized—less visible, yet deeply present. The figure becomes a site of stillness and ambiguity, where identity is neither fully formed nor entirely dissolved, but held in a delicate, unresolved balance.
Illustration · 2026
Ephemeral Vitality
by Jas
Ephemeral Vitality explores the fluid boundary between the human body and the natural world. Through layered figuration and symbolic imagery, Jas presents femininity as a shifting, permeable condition—continuously shaped by memory, instinct, and cultural constructs.
Across the series, bodies dissolve into animals, flora, and gestural traces of paint. Fish, swans, and serpents move through the figures as symbolic presences, suggesting intrusion, coexistence, and transformation. Rather than fixed identities, the works dwell in states of becoming.
Loose brushwork, dripping pigments, and fragmented forms evoke a sense of instability and temporality. The body emerges as a site where internal emotion and external forces intersect—never fully resolved, always in transition.
In Ephemeral Vitality, the female figure is not an object, but a space of negotiation—between vulnerability and agency, desire and distance. Meaning remains open, shifting, and alive.
Project Details
Artist
Jas
Year
2026
Medium
Oil on Canvas, Woodblock Prints
Dimensions
36×48, 24×36, 16×16 inches
Location
New York, NY
Artist Statement
My name is Jas, and I am an artist based in New York. My practice focuses on figurative illustration and symbolic storytelling, and I have been actively engaged in projects that explore themes of femininity, cultural identity, and the relationship between human emotion and nature. This series represents my ongoing exploration into femininity and cultural symbolism, reflecting my interest in female subjectivity and the poetic connection between the human body and the natural world.
— Jas
Interested in This Work?
For inquiries or more information, please contact:
info.unbriefed@gmail.com
Works
01 / 08
Entangled Body
In this work, the human body merges with animal structures, dissolving the boundary between self and other. Loose, fluid brushstrokes blur distinctions between flesh and bone, suggesting a fragile yet primal state of being. The figure becomes a vessel of emotional residue, evoking a cyclical relationship between femininity and the natural world.
02 / 08
Constructed Grace
The composition weaves together a female face, a swan, and blooming forms into a fragmented visual field. Symbols of purity and grace are destabilized, breaking into painterly fragments that resist a fixed reading. The work reflects on how femininity is constructed, idealized, and reassembled through cultural imagery.
03 / 08
Act of Presence
Here, the figure engages in an intimate act of consumption while confronting the viewer's gaze. The immediacy of the gesture, combined with dripping pigment and distorted form, transforms a mundane action into a symbolic assertion of presence. Desire, vulnerability, and embodiment converge, emphasizing the body as a site of emotional expression.
04 / 08
Intrusion of Memory
Rendered in a flattened, graphic language, this piece introduces a fish piercing through the figure's head. The fish functions as a metaphor for memory, fluidity, and intrusive thought. Within the restrained composition, the female subject appears suspended between interior consciousness and external symbolic forces.
05 / 08
Soft Disruption
This variation adopts a gentler palette and a more subdued emotional tone. While the fish continues to disrupt bodily integrity, its presence feels less confrontational and more contemplative. The work leans toward introspection, suggesting a quiet negotiation between self-awareness and external influence.
06 / 08
Tension Within
With heightened contrast and sharper structural definition, this version intensifies the subject's gaze and presence. The vivid coloration of the fish amplifies visual tension, reinforcing a sense of intrusion while simultaneously suggesting coexistence. The work highlights the ongoing negotiation between identity and imposed symbolism.
07 / 08
Coiled Intimacy
Dominated by cool, aqueous hues, this painting evokes a dreamlike, almost submerged atmosphere. The serpent coils around the figure in a relationship that is both intimate and unsettling. As a symbol of transformation, desire, and danger, it reflects the layered complexity of female subjectivity, where vulnerability and power intertwine.
08 / 08
Suspended Self
In this work, the figure appears more intact, yet emotionally withdrawn. Cooler tones and subtle distortions create a sense of distance, as if the subject exists in a state of quiet suspension. Unlike earlier works where the body is actively fragmented or intruded upon, here the tension is internalized—less visible, yet deeply present. The figure becomes a site of stillness and ambiguity, where identity is neither fully formed nor entirely dissolved, but held in a delicate, unresolved balance.
Illustration · 2026
Ephemeral Vitality
by Jas
Ephemeral Vitality explores the fluid boundary between the human body and the natural world. Through layered figuration and symbolic imagery, Jas presents femininity as a shifting, permeable condition—continuously shaped by memory, instinct, and cultural constructs.
Across the series, bodies dissolve into animals, flora, and gestural traces of paint. Fish, swans, and serpents move through the figures as symbolic presences, suggesting intrusion, coexistence, and transformation. Rather than fixed identities, the works dwell in states of becoming.
Loose brushwork, dripping pigments, and fragmented forms evoke a sense of instability and temporality. The body emerges as a site where internal emotion and external forces intersect—never fully resolved, always in transition.
In Ephemeral Vitality, the female figure is not an object, but a space of negotiation—between vulnerability and agency, desire and distance. Meaning remains open, shifting, and alive.
Project Details
Artist
Jas
Year
2026
Medium
Oil on Canvas, Woodblock Prints
Dimensions
36×48, 24×36, 16×16 inches
Location
New York, NY
Artist Statement
My name is Jas, and I am an artist based in New York. My practice focuses on figurative illustration and symbolic storytelling, and I have been actively engaged in projects that explore themes of femininity, cultural identity, and the relationship between human emotion and nature. This series represents my ongoing exploration into femininity and cultural symbolism, reflecting my interest in female subjectivity and the poetic connection between the human body and the natural world.
— Jas
Interested in This Work?
For inquiries or more information, please contact:
info.unbriefed@gmail.com
Works
01 / 08
Entangled Body
In this work, the human body merges with animal structures, dissolving the boundary between self and other. Loose, fluid brushstrokes blur distinctions between flesh and bone, suggesting a fragile yet primal state of being. The figure becomes a vessel of emotional residue, evoking a cyclical relationship between femininity and the natural world.
02 / 08
Constructed Grace
The composition weaves together a female face, a swan, and blooming forms into a fragmented visual field. Symbols of purity and grace are destabilized, breaking into painterly fragments that resist a fixed reading. The work reflects on how femininity is constructed, idealized, and reassembled through cultural imagery.
03 / 08
Act of Presence
Here, the figure engages in an intimate act of consumption while confronting the viewer's gaze. The immediacy of the gesture, combined with dripping pigment and distorted form, transforms a mundane action into a symbolic assertion of presence. Desire, vulnerability, and embodiment converge, emphasizing the body as a site of emotional expression.
04 / 08
Intrusion of Memory
Rendered in a flattened, graphic language, this piece introduces a fish piercing through the figure's head. The fish functions as a metaphor for memory, fluidity, and intrusive thought. Within the restrained composition, the female subject appears suspended between interior consciousness and external symbolic forces.
05 / 08
Soft Disruption
This variation adopts a gentler palette and a more subdued emotional tone. While the fish continues to disrupt bodily integrity, its presence feels less confrontational and more contemplative. The work leans toward introspection, suggesting a quiet negotiation between self-awareness and external influence.
06 / 08
Tension Within
With heightened contrast and sharper structural definition, this version intensifies the subject's gaze and presence. The vivid coloration of the fish amplifies visual tension, reinforcing a sense of intrusion while simultaneously suggesting coexistence. The work highlights the ongoing negotiation between identity and imposed symbolism.
07 / 08
Coiled Intimacy
Dominated by cool, aqueous hues, this painting evokes a dreamlike, almost submerged atmosphere. The serpent coils around the figure in a relationship that is both intimate and unsettling. As a symbol of transformation, desire, and danger, it reflects the layered complexity of female subjectivity, where vulnerability and power intertwine.
08 / 08
Suspended Self
In this work, the figure appears more intact, yet emotionally withdrawn. Cooler tones and subtle distortions create a sense of distance, as if the subject exists in a state of quiet suspension. Unlike earlier works where the body is actively fragmented or intruded upon, here the tension is internalized—less visible, yet deeply present. The figure becomes a site of stillness and ambiguity, where identity is neither fully formed nor entirely dissolved, but held in a delicate, unresolved balance.