This Exhibition is curated by Fang Zhiling, it features artists Yin Zhaohui and Yin Zhaoyu's thinking and practice about art creation in recent few years.
Looking at Yin Zhaohui's more recent works, his art explorations have had noticeable changes. This change first appeared as lines that has a traditionally Chinese undertone. The delicate and long lines have always been Yin Zhaohui’s signature visual motif; speaking from the most fundamental, his lines in the past were altered “forms” of a “Western” quality, yet his latest expression of lines seem to be gradually liberated from “form” and marching toward a path down a flattened, decorative “bone method” (the structural using of the brush emphasizes lines) transformation that stresses on the lines’ own quality. Secondly, these expressively Chinese line are accompanied by a gradually flattened visual atmosphere in the image. At this phase, he was inspired by Japanese Ukiyo-e and China’s ancient murals – an aesthetics to compress depth, delicate formal transformation and complicated visual layers into a flattened and rich mural-like image that seems imbued with history. Compared with the previously bizarre and enchanting appeal veiled beneath quaint imagery, his new works emphasize on the rustic but brilliant colors unique to ancient murals.
Yin Zhaoyu’s recent works “Interior View” no longer relies on peculiar imagery such as “renovation/ruins” but rather lends help from layers upon layers of colors; the vividly fashionable and mottled hues, convoluted spatial structures between the “everyday” and “surreal”, floating fragments of “life’s information” and more have expressed a psychological realization of our modern world’s many complex language that is both flourishing and decaying, in hopes and in pain. This is exactly the reason why Yin Zhaoyu’s latest paintings are not confined to a “Weischer Style” interior views; there are paintings that border on abstraction like Tribute to Auerbach, paintings that depict the outdoors filled with an air of magic, interior views of “NABIS style”, and of course the unique “renovation/ruins” interior views. More importantly, no matter the imagery and expression, all of the artworks precisely capture his idiosyncrasies and passion for love. He has reached maturity in his explorations of art.
The so called “distance” implies an independent consciousness to be distant. First, this implies for the twin brothers a distance within “mainstream” art circle. China’s “art map” has undergone continuous shifts in the ten years since 2008 as the tide rises and falls. Yin Zhaohui and Yin Zhaoyu have always kept their distance from this “mainstream”. The evolution of their art has followed their own perceptions on art and life, propelled by an internal drive but not an external force. Secondly, a distance from “scenery and object”. Since “Departure”, both of their art have had turned away from the narrative quality that relies on “scenery and object” to a painterly quality that stresses more on “language”. The progressively obscure approach is a more mature expression of their complex internal experiences. Thirdly, the distance between their styles. Though their distinct personalities were apparent even in the early stages of their career, they had yet developed a vividly unique artistic style as they both opted for the more general “imagery style”. Since 2008, they have been through self-doubt, pain and transformations. In the end, they have each established their own distinct styles and unique creative systems.