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15/2/2004

Angels of Warmth

Alliance Francaise de Singapour, Singapore

By Yan Ya Ya

A stunning exhibition of paintings featuring Chinese artist Yan Ya Ya's arresting renditions of the children of Tibet, Mongolia, and her beloved Pamir Highlands

A poetic artist. An impassioned pursuit of a dream.

Having fallen in everlasting love with Nanjiang the first time she set foot there a decade ago, Yan Ya Ya has since faithfully trodden the harrowing paths of the Gobi desert and the many dangerous roads to Tibet, Mongolia, and the highland regions of China, venturing deeper into the enigma of the northwestern region of China with every year. In all the pilgrimages she has embarked upon to her beloved lands, this relentless, spirited young artist has braved countless life-threatening dangers from wolves to altitude sickness and avalanches, and travelled as far as the Pamir Highlands nearing the borders of Afghanistan, in her quest to explore the lives and spirit of the native people and seek out inspiration for her artistic creations.

Born in the Chinese province of Shaanxi in 1964 and trained in oil painting as a student of Gansu Northwest National Institute's faculty of fine art, Yan's talent and instinctive fascination with colours and ethnic cultures led her down the post-graduate path not to a life of a professional artist, but to the glamorous, go-getting world of fashion design.

Once a young art student who found herself profoundly enraptured by the paintings of the great masters on the walls of the National Museum in Beijing - the same youth who had once dreamed of filling the walls of the museum with her own works, Yan Ya Ya was now a young and successful fashion designer with two flourishing boutiques to her name. However, reflecting on her accomplishments, she fell into a life-changing state of inner emptiness when she realized she might never again have anything at all to do with painting if she continued expanding her career in the ambitious fashion industry.

Plagued by deep sadness of such a prospect, Yan boldly gave up her boutiques and left for Beijing, flying to the renowned Academy of Fine Art in pursuit of her long forgotten dream. Finding herself immersed in an entirely different but familiar atmosphere of the world of Art, she was greatly inspired to find her true path. Uncertain of what she wanted to take as the theme and subject of her new art however, Yan travelled to the enigmatic Pamir Highlands for the first time.

There, she fell in love with the brilliant sunlight, the colours of the landscape, and its people. Well-travelled to regions in Tibet and Mongolia as well, the distinct spirit of the Pamirs and its vivacious children captured her heart, becoming her most beloved land and people to visit and portray.

By her brush, the stunning warmth and sunlight of the Pamirs comes to life on canvas with great depth and emotion, and the children of the great highlands and plains bask in its dazzling rays, brightly sun-kissed and dappled in shades, reflecting both joy and sorrow through innocent yet rueful faces.

With her sensitive, poignant heart and technical artistic prowess, Yan seeks to experience life on the highlands through the children's spiritedness and deeply expressive eyes. Immersed with a feeling of a vast, abstracted living space with focal individuals gazing into the distance with a faraway mysteriousness, Yan's portraits arrest and provoke with great profoundness and subtlety.

Angels of Warmth is an exceptional collection of creations borne out of a deep passion and love for the Pamir Highlands and its people. The collection also features works portraying the people and lands of Tibet and Mongolia. To devote her fullest concentration in creating this series of works, Yan put a stopper in the sale of her works to set off on a three-year hiatus and sojourn to gather inspiration and materials from the great highlands and paint in

virtual seclusion. In December last year, she unveiled three years of arduously and meticulously collected works at the China National Museum of Fine Art, undoubtedly a remarkable and distinguished achievement for such a young artist.

This February, the exhibition will arrive in Singapore. HaKaren Art Gallery is proud to present Angels of Warmth, Yan Ya Ya's brilliant collection of emotionally provoking portraits, open to the public at SG Private Banking Gallery, Alliance Française from 17 - 21st February 2004.

To commemorate the opening of the exhibition, a cocktail reception will be held at the gallery on the evening of 16th February at 7.30pm, to be officiated by guest-of-honour Mr. Kwok Kian Chow, Director of the Singapore Art Museum.

The opening will also be attended by Yan Ya Ya, who will tentatively be in Singapore between 10 - 25th February.

For additional information, photography, or interest in arranging an interview with the artist, please contact
Ms. Nadia Ng
HaKaren Art Gallery
Tel
(65) 6733 3382
Fax
(65) 6735 9709
Ms. Serene Yap
SG Private Banking Gallery,
Alliance Française de Singapour
Tel
(65) 6833 9314
Fax
(65) 6733 3023

Other official sources of information:
Angels of Warmth by Yan Ya Ya - An art catalogue published by HaKaren Art Gallery, containing images of Yan's works, biographical information of the artist, as well as essays by art critics Dr. Julian Davison, Marjorie Chu and Shui Tian Zhong.

The Dream of Yan Ya Ya - An in-depth documentary-interview featuring Yan's artistic journey and love for the Pamir Highlands.

Exhibition Hours
10.30am - 6.30pm

Admission
Free
Enquiries
HaKaren Art Gallery by
phone at (65) 6733 3382, or by

Opening Date : Monday, 16 February 2004, 7:30pm
Guest-of-Honour : Mr. Kwok Kian Chow, Director of Singapore Art Museum

Venue
SG Private Banking Gallery
4th floor Alliance Française de Singapour
1 Sarkies Road
Singapore 258130

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