Ye Hongxing’s paintings are exciting! Her paintings are alluring self-portraits in which her own face, painted in shades of gray, appears behind bright winding Chinese floral or other attractive Chinese patterns. Ye’s work is avant-garde yet it expresses soul and sensitivity. While her paintings are instantly appealing, the artist has undertones of social elements to her work, subtly juxtaposing traditional Chinese motifs with modern Eastern and Western elements. Ye expresses a very unique vision by fusing a medium of Western-origin (oil on canvas) together with Chinese porcelain decorative patterns as well as other quintessentially Chinese designs.

In her paintings, Ye Hongxing’s own facial expression is a very calm and neutral background for the colorful patterns on top of that. As the artist is very concerned with the juxtaposition of peace and luxury, one can detect a tranquil or almost mundane emotion in her gaze. In contrast to using somber tones, the vibrant colors and exquisite composition of flowers and vines elicit the notion of luxury. Consequently, her work seems to embrace a duality of notions: realism and visionary.

The artist explains that her works is the reaction to the “swift change of China’s social system”. Perhaps this is Ye Hongxing’s way of negotiating her role as an artist in contemporary China. Accordingly, she articulates fusion and change simultaneously in her work. By doing so, the artist conceptualizes a burgeoning theme in contemporary Chinese art. The fast changing pace of modern China is shaping a new generation of thought and expression. Her position as a young artist in China is very exciting. Ye Hongxing is an important figure in this movement which will undoubtedly mark history.

Ye Hongxing’s work was selected by the Curator of the Asian Art Museum in California and the Director of Art Cologne (out of over a thousand other emerging Chinese Artists) as one of China’s top 20 young emerging artists in Chinese Art Prize 2006. With a Master’s Degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Ye Hongxing has recently garnered a lot of attention, with her works being shown at one of the most important and prestigious art expositions in Europe, such as Art Cologne, as well as in Miami, New York and Washington, DC.