Yuan Yuan (b.1973)

'Lived-in and socially-aware' is the mood that Yuan Yuan has brought to the haunting, deserted space on his canvas. The tenor of 'nonexistence' in these old buildings, vacant rooms, and forlorn venues has somehow made the impression of 'existence' all the more inneglectable and poignant, and it ignites the fire of imaginations for folks who've once inhibited these spaces, who've given them a purpose, and bonded them with time, history, and culture.


Using a photography-inspired angle, Yuan Yuan goes about his work from a rigorous, linear perspective, brings to life the interiors of the lobby in painstaking detail, and revives the forgotten corners with emotions and feelings. He mimes the shift of changing lights with accuracy; sunlight glows through the window and dapples on the railing, tracking the river of time. Repeated colour applications have yielded desired moistness, and by reinterpreting Chinese painting skills with oil paint techniques, Yuan sets a mood that's pure nostalgia.

In painting an aged lobby in situ, Yuan Yuan's work tells of folks that were once present. The views that never fade nor vanish, however, could no longer recover the remembrances of auld lang syne.