The way one lights a fire in the dark-Breathing Again Print

I studied at the Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University, one of China’s most prestigious institutions. After graduating in 2005, I worked in design before teaching in high school—an experience that unexpectedly rekindled my passion for painting. In 2009, I created my debut painting, encouraged by a letter from Charles Saatchi. In 2014, I was discovered by Rebecca Wilson, Chief Curator of Saatchi Art, which became a turning point in my international exposure. My works have since been collected by private collectors across the U.S., Taiwan, Germany, Spain, Greece, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Portugal, Nigeria,China and Brazil—over 100 original paintings to date. Curator Kat Henning (Saatchi Art) wrote: “Her portraits possess an innate sense of loneliness and anxiety, reminiscent of Francis Bacon. She blurs out facial features deliberately, as if resisting identification. Her expressive, impasto brushstrokes—along with vivid blues, ochres, greens, and pinks—ignite the canvas and invite the viewer to linger.” Through distorted, emotionally charged portraits, I explore the inner tensions of modern life—conflict, isolation, identity, and the strangeness of being human. My subjects include friends, my partner, mother, students, animals, models, and myself. Every face holds a fragment of my world. 🩵 I describe my artistic style as “Trans-figurative Expressionism”, which can also be understood as a form of Existential Expressionism. It is my way of penetrating appearances and reaching the depths of emotion—both a breakthrough in visual language and a profound exploration of human existence. Having lived for long periods under high pressure, emotional dislocation, and shifting identities, I gradually came to see the human form as a gateway to the depths of the psyche. A face is not merely a collection of features, but a passage to silence, struggle, healing, desire, and loss. My figures are often incomplete, distant, even fractured. Children, women, and marginalized individuals appear repeatedly in my work, carrying the most sensitive, fragile, yet resilient spiritual energy. I do not pursue decorative technique; I seek “presence of feeling”—allowing the viewer to breathe with the world within the painting and resonate in its psychological climate.