Tang Contemporary Art has held an exhibition of works on paper for Yin Zhaoyang in Bangkok in May 2009, and the exhibition was entitled “Interior Scene". After many exhibitions, and going through a few personal incidents such as relocation of his studio, suffering from a car accident and meditation in 2010, Yin has got back into the studio to continue the story on “Interior scene”, and written a new chapter named “Island of Four Seasons”, an island appeared like a gift from heaven, Yin proceeds on his understanding on life and the new realization of himself, he has taken a new step in his artistic life.
Today, Yin Zhaoyang, having passed through his years as an enfant terrible, is re-assessing himself by liberating and exploring a totally new language. In this “Island of Four Seasons” series, Yin expresses his understanding towards humanity, history, or even art history and all that it encompasses; Yin opens up a new territory in his painting by going beyond his former idealistic language and returning to his interest in humanity. Yin Zhaoyang, in his post-heroic era, has illustrated the richness, and explosion of desire in human figure of nudity. These characters are sealed in this lunatic Island, reflecting the paradox of greediness and the lost of their spiritual status in the subconscious in modern society.
About the Artist
Born in Nanyang, Henan Province, China in 1970, Yin Zhaoyang graduated from the Department of Print-making, Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1996 and currently works and lives in Beijing, China. Among the “post-70s” artists, Yin Zhaoyang pioneered the artistic exploration on the subject of youthful sadness and began for the first time to project the self-imagery and emotional features of this generation onto the canvas. By situating grand narratives in humanistic concerns and reflection, his paintings offer a sentimental epitome of the plight suffered by youth of a particular era. In the 1990s, “Youth Cruelty” paintings by artists led by Yin Zhaoyang, among others, have added an experimental dimension and enhanced its depth of narrative, range of figurative language and aesthetic taste, constituting a major force in avant-garde painting of the decade.
