YE HONGXING

Ye Hongxing’s Fusion series show almost identical monotone self-portraits of the artist over whose face colorful traditional Chinese floral patterns have been overlaid. The artist poses with a calm expression on her face and her eyes closed, as if dreaming. Her skin is pale, like porcelain and receives the patterns passively. The patterns play over her features like projected images, suggesting the memory of a more refined and cultured past. At the same time, their vividness and sharp outlines contrasts violently with the softer approach with which the artist has addressed her own and features: The patterns appear etched on, like tattoos that brand the artist with the social and sexual expectations of her culture and ethnicity.

A Masters graduate from the printing department of the Printing department of the Central Academy, Beijing, Ye Hongxing was selected as one of the top 20 artists in the 2006 Dragonair Emerging Chinese Artists Awards (DECCA II).