YaYa Yajie Liang: Focus On

28 November 2024 - 10 January 2025

  • YaYa Yajie Liang

    I’m similar, not similar to something, but just similar
  • Galerie Kandlhofer is pleased to present I’m similar, not similar to something, but just similar, a solo exhibition by   YaYa Yajie Liang (b. 1995, Henan), whose paintings explore humanity’s complex relationship with the natural world. In a new body of works, Liang examines the connection of all life forms, where boundaries between human and non-human beings, organisms and non–organisms dissolve, evoking a deep awareness of moving beyond the Anthropocene to the Symbiosis.
     
    YaYa Yajie Liang (b. 1995, Henan, China) has a BA Fine Art China Central Academy of Fine Arts (2018) and a MA Painting at Royal College of Art (2020). She is doing Ph.D. research at Royal College of Art since 2020. 
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  • Yaya Yajie Liang's work explores the metamorphosis of the body and the potential of 'becoming animal'. From the legendary banished...
    YaYa Yajie Liang, There was a sudden sunburst in my head. And then black night. That blackness was sublime. I felt distributed through space and time: One foot upon a mountaintop, one hand Under the pebbles of a panting strand, One ear in Italy, one eye in Spain, In caves, my blood, and in the stars, my brain. They were dull throbs in my Triassic; green Optical spots in Upper Pleistocene, An icy shiver down my Age of Stone, And all tomorrows in my funnybone., 2024, Oil on canvas, 200 x 160 cm, 78 3/4 x 63 in (YYL_002), photo credits to Eva Herzog Studio
    Yaya Yajie Liang's work explores the metamorphosis of the body and the potential of 'becoming animal'. From the legendary banished beast to the interpenetration of biological space, Liang interrogates how men's analogic mapping to and from animals (within imagined, lived, or taxonomic intimacies) helps us to reconsider the prescribed definition of 'humanity'. Taking inspiration from Agential Realism, Liang views painting as a movement that is constantly repeating the 'becoming'. Shifting restlessly between abstract and figurative modes, she uses improvisation to kick-start new paintings, allowing unplanned initial strokes to help dictate the works' subsequent direction.
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  • Her recent solo exhibitions included Particles Maze at Lyles & King, New York, NY (2024); Summer Palace, curated by Kat...
    YaYa Yajie Liang
    Humus, 2024
    Oil on canvas
    220 x 180 cm.
    86 5/8 x 70 7/8 in.
     
    Her recent solo exhibitions included Particles Maze at Lyles & King, New York, NY (2024); Summer Palace, curated by Kat Sapera at Cob Gallery, London, UK (2023). Recent selected group shows include Embodied Forms, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK (2024); The Dance, Luce Gallery, Turin, IT (2023); Sweet Spot, BLANK Gallery, Shanghai, CH (2023); Wilderness of Being, HdM Gallery, London, UK (2022); Machines of Desire, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (2022); Beacon, Josh Lilly’s Gallery, London, UK (2020), among others. Liang has been shortlisted for The Waverton Art Prize in 2022. She has taken part in residency at Vannucci Artist Residency, Umbria, IT.
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