BIO

Xinzhu Yan (b. 1997, Chongqing, China) is a Seoul-based artist whose work offers a potent diagnosis of a core schism in contemporary life: the conflict between a “caged authenticity” and a “performative freedom.” This central concept, rooted in a formative childhood memory, serves as the foundation for her exploration of the modern human condition.

On her canvases, this societal tension manifests as compressed and distorted bodies. These faceless figures are not portraits but rather embodiments of the modern physique, tensed and shaped by the invisible disciplines of urban life. Yan’s creative process is, in itself, a form of resistance. She works exclusively alla prima (wet-on-wet), rejecting projectors, replication, or preparatory sketches. This allows each instantaneous and irrevocable brushstroke to act as a direct conduit for memory and emotion at their peak. The recurring motif of red hands functions as an ambiguous wound, signifying both the scars of a failed resistance and a paradoxical struggle to affirm one's own existence.

Ultimately, Yan's work achieves a high degree of self-awareness. She concedes that the act of creation cannot escape performance and that the studio is no exemption zone. Her paintings thus become spaces of shared complicity, inviting the viewer to confront a profound reality: the artist, artwork, and audience are all caught within this labyrinth of performance, engaged in a difficult search for a momentary, authentic breath.

CV

Born in 1997 in ChongQing, China

Resides and works in Seoul, Korea

Education:

2017 BFA Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Animation, CN
2021 BFA Hongik University, Design&Arts&Media Major in Film&Animation, KR
2023 MFA Hongik University, Graduate School, Painting, KR
2023 - Expected   PHD Hongik University, Graduate School, Fine Art, Painting, KR

Group Exhibitions:
2022  <Our Emotions>, WWW SPACE, Seoul, KR
2023  <Masked>, CICA museum, Gimpo, KR
2023  <Where the wild roses grow>, Kristin Hjellegjerdle gallery, Berlin, DE
2023  <Limits>, colorbeat gallery, Seoul, KR
2024  <NOPE HOPE>, Glitch Biennale, Busan, KR
2025 <Weighty stillness, A flowing body>, q_archive, Seoul, KR

Publications:

<Tenant News> 2023.08                                                                                                <ArtMaze Magazine> Issue35 

Press:

Womannews: http://www.womennews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=235312

Newsbrite: http://www.newsbrite.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=171978

문화뉴스: https://www.mhns.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=551548