Yuri Yuan
Bio: Yuri Yuan (b. 1996) is an artist living and working in New York. She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. Yuan was a recipient of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Scholarship in 2020, and Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant in 2019. She has exhibited work at Alexander Berggruen Gallery, New York, NY; Make Room Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; The ROOM Contemporary Art Space, Venice, Italy; Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL; International Center for the Arts, Umbria, Italy. Her solo exhibition will be presented at Make Room Gallery LA in January 2022.
yuriyuan.com
Instagram: @yuri_hatake
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement: My recent works explore existentialist themes of longing and grief. I combine scenes from memories and dreams, creating a psychological space to contemplate tragedy and loss. Through the task of painting, I navigate personal trauma and question how we experience and remember physical and emotional pain. I often paint obscured figures to allow the viewer to project themselves into the narratives. The solitary figures are often situated in an imaginary landscape waiting for a climax that may never happen. Using a wet-on-wet technique and thin layers of paint, I create a sense of quiet airiness. Most paintings were made in a day to preserve a sense of freshness and simplicity. I use light and shadow to evoke a metaphor of life and death and highlight alienation and mortality as a human experience.
L to R: Starfall, (64" x 92.5" x 1.5,” Oil on canvas, 2020); Billowing, (70" x 132" x 1.75," Oil on canvas, 2020)
First Year Exhibition
Terminal, (Top, 36 x 48 in, Oil on canvas, 2020); Time and Again, (Bottom, 48 x 36 in, Oil on canvas, 2020)
Open Studios
