「Look at the Picture and Talk about the Painting」Fu Yao: The “Antidote” in the Aesthetic of Healing

When socializing is taken for granted as a game for extroverts, the struggles of those with social anxiety are often dismissed with the label of “being overly sensitive”.

Fu Yao’s “Arcadia Club” series tears apart the absurdity of contemporary social ecology. The seemingly lively crowd in the paintings are actually sitting in silence, much like the survival state of socially anxious people who “wear a mask of enthusiasm to socialize and take a breath in the gaps of solitude”, precisely exposing the anxiety of extroverts who “fear awkward silences but are exhausted by socializing”.

A closer look at the picture reveals that the flowers and grass grow wildly yet in harmony, symbolizing the ideal interpersonal relationship for people with social anxiety: no forced interaction, maintaining a “parallel companionship” in the same space, just like the tacit understanding in a coffee shop where everyone is busy with their own affairs. This way, they embrace the warmth of the group while preserving their own boundaries.

From “The Escape” to “Arcadia Club”, it’s the reconciliation of social anxiety with the world. When society takes it for granted that “connections equal value”, Fu Yao’s paintings remind us that if loneliness is the inherent color of human nature, why can’t allowing oneself to be “unpopular” become a kind of life aesthetics? In the tumultuous flow of noise, if we can find the most comfortable fulcrum, it will be the antidote for all those who are struggling.