According to Yu Hong: “In Romance of Spring, I used the same compositional structure as Tang Dynasty painter Zhang Xuan’s Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk, although what I paint is modern life, which is an entirely different world, with no narrative relationship similar to what appears in tradition. What I hope to reproduce is fragments from daily life, specifically contemporary life. The imagery of my work shows real life, and the stalwart, fragile, or avant-garde elements of average contemporary Chinese people and their lives at this very moment, where people have no particular threads of connection between each other. This is like our society now; the mass of information that fills life has been blown apart, everything is trivial fragments. Although what is painted is modern life, I seek to recreate it in my own way. Retaining classical structure while at the same time using modern characters and modern language revitalizes the painting, creating a dialogue with ancient classics.
As opposed to works executed in oil, Yu Hong’s new painting style on silk is more immediate and unforgiving – every stroke remains visible and has to be executed quickly to keep the color from bleeding out. Just as each encounter and experience leaves an, although sometimes faint, yet ineffaceable trace on an individual. In these works, a veritable technical tour de force, Yu Hong’s exceptional mastery of figure painting and ability to transmit the intangible becomes clear beyond the shadow of a doubt. On these silk surfaces the subtlety and sensitivity with which she approaches her subjects have found a worthy medium for expression.
