sinokultur will organize an artist talk with Chinese artist Xu Yang from London on Thursday, January 16, 2025 at Photobastei in Zurich.

Xu Yang is a London-based Chinese multi-disciplinary artist creating artwork with political undercurrents. Challenging - and being in contra to - her Asian upbringing, Xu uses her queer identity to investigate what is femininity? What is a social construct? And to consider whether what we see online is real.

Inspired by and referencing 17th and 18th century western art history, often seen via the male gaze, Xu is also influenced by drag performance, theatre and cabaret. Using herself as a model, Xu explores through painting, performance and photography the position of women in contemporary society and pop culture. Transforming her body-shape with silicone breasts, corsets, hip pads, wigs and make-up allows for an investigation of the idealised female figure and social media’s use of Photoshop and image filters to body shame, and to reshape the value of the female.

Probing themes of power and identity and the dialogue between painting’s contemporary iterations and its history, there is a concern with the emotional response triggered and the potential for its reinterpretation and translation.

Xu Yang (born 1996, Shandong) lives and works in London, UK. She studied Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon College of Arts (UAL) and graduated with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in 2020. Xu was recently awarded a commission by Tate Collective for LGBTQIA+ history month (2023).

Photos and text are courtesy and copyright of the artist Xu Yang.