Poetic and painterly, Yuen's dreamland images are rich with symbolism, pathos and humor.

"Yuen's paintings work on us like a silent ululation, a harmony of opposites, a pulsation of a hidden, yet informed rhythmic structure."

-  Robert C. Morgan
from the catalogue essay

Charles Yuen begins his paintings with a narrative, but his are twisting, dancing stories, turned inside out to reveal hidden meanings and convey the poetics of the psyche. His lush surfaces are layered with quirky figures depicted in disparate sizes and floating in fantastic landscapes of bubbles and curvy lines. Raised in Hawaii, Charles Yuen brings a rich personal approach to the tradition of painterly allegory such as the work of Philip Guston and Francis Picabia.

Charles writes about his work; "Here association and metaphor coexist with rationality in a peaceably delirious kingdom. What each of these paintings is "about" is deceptively simple, what each "contain" is a rich mix of compassion and humor, yearning and paranoia, acceptance and criticism. With subtle complexity they hope to induce a mesmerized engagement."