Xiaojing Yan
Artist Statement
Making art is a transmigration of my ideas, and thus my spirit, into the physical world. As an artist migrating from China to North America, both my identity and my sculpture pass through the complex filters of different countries, languages and cultural expectations. I filter Chinese thoughts through English words, English words through Chinese culture and my psyche through artwork.
Choosing a material is like choosing a right word from my vocabulary to express my thoughts. In the same way I experience contradictions between Chinese and Canadian cultures, I seek contradictions in my materials. Wax and fabric are soft, while metal and plexiglass are cold and sharp. And yet, some core sense of myself remains: the malleability of wax underscores my adaptability as a foreigner. The clean straight lines of squares and cubes are like the clean straight lines of my personality. The se enclosed forms express the isolation from living abroad and also about what keeps me safe from my native culture.
Minimalist concepts and theatricality expose the complex layers of my internal world with an incongruous calmness,. I juxtapose texture with repetition. Repeating a pattern allows the viewers to perceive not just a series of objects but also a trend of development a line of motion or a sequence of transformation. Whether a field of dreams or a comfortable prison, repetition can communicate more information than the forms by themselves.
Brief Biography
Education
2007 MFA Sculpture, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana PA
2000 BFA Drawing & Painting, Nanjing Art Institute, Jiangsu China
Selected Exhibitions
Solo
2009 Phoenix Gallery, Nanjing, PR China
2008 The Langauge of Life, Bluff Gallery, Scarborough Arts Council, ON
2006 Transmigration & Spirit, thesis exhibition, Kipp Gallery, Indian University of Pennsylvania, PA
2006 Cross-Cultural Exchange, Robert Shaw Gallery, Indiana PA
2004 Miller Gallery, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Ind. PA
Group
2010 Lust, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Toronto
2009 SSC presents…10th Juried Emerging Sculptors, Canadian Sculpture Centre
2009 Untapped, Juried Exhibition, Artist Project Toronto, ON
2009 The New Hybrids: Juried Exhibition in Mixed Media, The Living Arts Centre, Mississauga
2009 Open Mind, OSA 135th Annual Open Juried Exhibition, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto
2009 41st Open National Juried Show, SCA, Todmorden Mills Papermill
Awards / Grants
2009 Project Grant, Canada Council for the Arts
2009 Emerging Artist Grant, Ontario Arts Council
2009 Best of Show, 135th Annual Open Juried Exhibition, John B. Aird Gallery
2008 Visual Artist Grant, Toronto Arts Council
2006 Graduate Student Research Grant, Indian University of Pennsylvania, PA
Yan's work has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada, USA, and in PR China. Her work has garnered awards and is the recipient of Toronto, Ontario and Canada Council grants. She was elected into the Sculptors Society of Canada in 2009. Currently she lives and works in Toronto.
website: http:// www.xiaojingyan.com
Media: mixed media
SSC Member Since: 2009
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