Xiaojing Yan


Xiaojing Yan is a contemporary Chinese Canadian artist known for her work in sculpture, installation and public art.

Early life and career

Xiaojing Yan received her Bachelors in Decorative Art from Nanjing Arts Institute in 2000. In 2004 she received degree from George Brown College and in 2007 she received an MFA degree in sculpture from Indiana University of Pennsylvania,United States.
As an artist migrating from China to North America, both her identity and her work pass through the complex filters of different countries, languages, and cultural expectations. Yan has exhibited at Suzhou Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, Varley Art Gallery, TRUCK Contemporary Art, Calgary; Plug In Contemporary, Winnipeg; Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey; Varley Art Gallery in Markham. Her work was featured at Toronto International Art Fair in 2012 and 2014.

Work

"Yan’s poetic explorations delve into the meaning of spirituality and the transformation of self. Yan draws on personal experience from her earlier life in China and eventual immigration to Canada in reimagining these traditional visual languages through a contemporary perspective." In her 2018 exhibition In Suspended Silence, at the Richmond Art Gallery in British Columbia, Canada, "Yan combined two bodies of work that derive from classical Chinese ink wash painting and portrait sculpture." "It is through the use of traditional Chinese materials and art-historical references that her work navigates a transformative space between culture and identity. "

Solo exhibitions

Yan is the recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the 2013 Mandarin Profile Awards of Fairchild TV and The Chalmers Arts Fellowship.