Born in Beijing, China, Lin Yan has been greatly influenced by her art family since her childhood. Her grandfather, Pang Xunqin and grandmother Qiu Ti were the pioneers of Chinese modern art. Her parents, Lin Gang and Pang Tao, studied in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and graduated from The Central Academy of Fine Arts in China, who later taught and opened the fourth studio of Oil Painting Department in the 1980s, promoted the development of modern and contemporary art, and at the same time surpassed their own status as mainstream realist painters and became unique in their abstract expression. As the third generation of the family, Lin Yan’s practice is deeply rooted in her family’s artistic spirit. She knows the price to be paid for artistic exploration, and therefore maintains indifference to fame and fortune, stays away from the hustle and bustle, and develops her own independent artistic language. After graduating from The Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1984, Lin pursued further studies at L'École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1985. Then she obtained her M.A. from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (1989). In 1993, she moved to New York and since then has lived and worked in New York.

Since the 90s, Lin Yan has been inspired by the idea of “five shades of ink” in Chinese ink painting, and started to utilize different black mediums to create two-dimensional and three-dimensioanl artworks. In 2005, she began to use the carrier of ancient Chinese painting—handmade Xuan paper as medium. With the simplest Xuan paper and black and white ink, she creates a sense of weight and layering. Installations with architectural features and sculptures with the painterly characters expand her artistic language. By exploring the materials and its characters in Chinese art, she plays harmoniously Yin and Yang of Tai-chi spirit in her working process. Lin Yan's works are stunning in a subtle and tranquil way, juxtaposing history, the past and the present, and endowing minimalism with Eastern aesthetics. Since 2013, Lin Yan has used space as a starting point and combined with architectural forms to create large-scale installations. For the first time, at the Prow Art Space of the landmark Flatiron building in New York, she created the large ink and Xuan paper installation Embracing Stillness. Through layers of Xuan paper, the change of natural light and the reflection of urban architecture fell on the snow leopard painted with charcoal and ink, creating an atmosphere completely different from the frenzied flurry of urban life outside. At the end of 2013, she created ink and Xuan paper installation Sky in Beijing Yuan Art Museum to explore the concept of “Heaven and Man in One” and call attention to the environmental damage caused by large-scale commercialization and industrialization after the reform and opening up. In 2014, Lin Yan’s solo exhibition Dispelling the Clouds at Tenri Cultural Institute covered the entire ceiling with layers of ink-colored Xuan paper painted with flying birds in charcoal mixed with plastic bags and the rubbing of tires. The light behind it seemed to breed vitality. It makes people feel that the world is not divided by the national boundaries, and everyone has struggles and responsibility. Lin Yan has recreated the Sky series in different spaces such as Fou Gallery (New York), Kwai Fung Hin Gallery (Hong Kong), Eslite Gallery (Taipie) and White Rabbit Gallery (Sydney). Beginning in 2017, she started her new series—Regeneration of Hope, named after the Big Dipper, as site-specific installations in various art institutions in different cities, including Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (Yinchuan, China), Jinji Lake Art Museum (Suzhou, China), Wanying Art Museum (Shijiazhuang, China), Minsheng Art Museum (Beijing), Today Art Museum (Beijing) and Helwaser Gallery (New York). The Big Dipper is composed of seven stars of Ursa Major and is often used as an important indicator of directions in the Northern Civilization. The new project continues to point to the relationship between man and nature and the universe, and presents Lin Yan’s reflection and hope for the future.

Lin Yan has held solo or group exhibitions at important international institutions, including Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin, Ohio), the Museum of Chinese in America (New York), The National Art Museum in China (Beijing), Minsheng Art Museum (Beijing), Today Art Museum (Beijing), the Dresden State Art Collection (Germany), He Xiangning Art Museum (Shenzhen), etc. Her works have been included in the permanent collections of public institutions, including Deutsche Bank Art Corporate Citizenship (New York), White Rabbit Gallery (Sydney), Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Long Museum (Shanghai), Pang Xunqin Museum (Changshu), National Museum of China (Beijing), Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing), etc. Her recent exhibitions include: Big in China, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney (2022); Carry-On III, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing (2021); The Latent Paradigm: Research on The Statues And Ecology of Chinese Contemporary Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing (2019); The Splendid Languages of Paper, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou (2019); New Ink Art in China 1978-2018, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing (2018); The 2018 Guang’an Field Art Biennale, Wusheng, China (2018).

Biography

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