Yang Yang

I create figurative paintings of unconventional forms. I use acrylic on heavy fiber paper along with pencil, ink and charcoal, and then mount the paper on canvas. I like logical thinking with a crazy imagination approach. I feel as if I am a motion picture director. I start by creating my characters, and let them act freely and tell the story by themselves. My paintings focus on human interactions, revealed through the characters and the congruence between sophistication and childishness, bitterness and contentment. I strive to create penetrating characters that transcend time and place. Mythology and mysticism heavily inspire my work. I find beauty in scenes that convey a primitive innocence. Through a mutual understanding with my subject, I try to express my sense of the integrated wholeness of the experience. I must trust that my intuition will bring me closer to the esoteric elements. I have but one simple goal: to take the viewer to a place he has never been before, a place without reference. My artistic journey drives me to investigate the mystery contained within everything that I consider real. My subjective conception of the world around me distorts the shapes in my work. As a result, my figures close and open, while remaining at one with the overall consciousness that each work creates. Through this process, I convey nature and characters, exposing new and modified realities. As Lao Tzu described it, “shapes can be expressed, but not in an ordinary way.”I was born in Nanchang, China. In 1984, I came to the U.S. and received an MA degree from Augustana College, in Sioux Falls, SD in 1987. I taught Chinese Art and Culture at Augustana College from 1987 to 1991. Since 1992, I opened my studio to the public and have remained very active. In 2004, I was invited back to China, Shaanxi Art Museum for a solo exhibition. In 2006, I was selected to be in a two-person exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. In 2007, I had a solo exhibition at Gallery 456 in New York City, the contemporary gallery of the Chinese-American Arts Council.