Min Yiyao

Biography

Born in Xi’an, Shanxi Province and graduating from Xi’an Fine Art Academy Min Yiyao is the latest portraiture artist at Ode To Art. His figurative works have been featured in major exhibitions in China, with solo and group exhibitions spanning Beijing, Xiamen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Taipei, Belgium, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Singapore. He promises to be a worthy addition to Ode To Art’s collection of Chinese artists.

In Min’s works, the language of the technique draws the viewer rather that the image itself. They seem to draw on certain elements of fauvism in an attempt to move beyond a mere impressionistic view. This is even more interesting on portraiture works such as Min’s.

That the technique serves as the primary focus is intriguing. It is not to say that the arresting images on Min’s canvas are any less impressive. However, it questions whether this is a deliberate attempt by the artist to employ a different language of artistic communication. With seemingly wild brushstrokes, he manages to capture light and depth. The random strokes’ play on the canvas unwittingly forming an image that thought did not prior define. He limits himself to a palette of colours that are exceedingly dreary, but which consequentially, serves to highlight this exact use.

Indeed, Min’s works are fascinating because the viewer experiences a reversal of the norms that are expected of a portraiture piece. Instantly, the quality of distance is one that is experienced. The figures seem to be looking into mirrors in self-reflective gazes, pondering over a perennial existential dilemma. They have enclosed themselves within their own mirrored images with a ceaseless resonance of a single thought that does not transmit to the viewer. It is this deliberate disengagement that forces the viewer to crave for another mode of interaction with the art. And it is this self-inclusiveness of Min’s art that makes his work provocative to the eye.

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