14 Sep - 4 Nov 2023 Yin Zhaoyang
Yin Zhaoyang's first solo exhibition in Australia
| Curated by | Dr Geoff Raby AO |
| Featured artist | Yin Zhaoyang |
Vermillion Art Gallery offers in Australia a rare chance to see recent works from one of the leading figures from China’s ‘Youth Cruelty’ movement of painters. Born in the 1970s in harsh conditions, this group of painters emerged in the mid 1990s as the next generation of Chinese contemporary artists. Beijing artist Yin Zhaoyang is regarded as a leading representative of this group.
At a time when the Cynical Realism movement – juxtaposing commercial pop art images with propaganda art – was the dominant narrative by which the international art world came to notice Chinese contemporary art, Yin and his small group stayed close to the painterly traditions in which they had been trained in China’s great academies.
Thoroughly versed in the Western Masters, Yin’s work has moved from figurative to more abstract expression. What is unifying across his work is his intense, energetic, at times explosive, style no matter the subject. His work seems to vibrate from within the canvas.
With maturity and his establishment as a major international figure in Chinese contemporary art, with successful solo shows in the West and China, and sales through the major auction houses, his work has become more reflective and contemplative, but the subliminal energy remains, almost as if the work is breathing.
Over the past decade, Yin has turned to landscapes set in the ancient Song Mountain range in his home province of Henan. These works are rich in colour with thick oil paint applied in wide sweeping strokes. The intensity of the colours, the thickness of the paint and vividness of the whole composition take his landscapes to another dimension altogether, teetering on the edge of abstraction.
To these Vermillion has included some of Yin’s most recent work, semi-abstract portraiture, including several of Yin’s tributes to his greatest inspiration: Vincent Van Gogh.
– Guest curator, Dr Geoff Raby AO
Trailer | About Yin Zhaoyang
Artist Statement
I discovered this valley of Mount Song by chance. I was amazed by it at first sight. This valley has almost everything I love, ancient legendary rock formations with majestic and diverse shapes, and rich textures. That was the beginning. I set myself a compositional challenge.
Twelve years on, Secluded Valley is the latest portrayal of Mount Song. The valley commands respect. It grows slowly and splendidly. It mirrors my current life at this stage.
– Yin Zhaoyang
嵩山的这条山谷是我在一个很偶然的情况下发现的，当时的第一眼就相当惊艳。这条谷中几乎有我需要的所有内容：古老的传说，壮严又变化多端的地貌，巨石分布，其沧桑的质地令人动容。做为一个绘画的母题令人爱不释手。那是一个开始，是我给自己设定的命题作文。
十二年过去，如今的这件作品是这个地方的最新的写照。如同一个独立的生命，它缓慢地生长着，辉煌而凛冽。它是记录此刻的我的真实现状的一枚证据。
– 尹朝阳
Related Exhibitions
Related News
