YIN XIN

:: YinXin . PHOTO ::

Yin Xin's Foreword exhibition in london, June 2001

"Oil painting in China has a short history of only 100 years. During this century, China has gone through imperialism, a republic, Communism, a cultural revolution and today's economic transformation. Chinese painting underwent changes simultaneously. As an artist, I use western techniques to paint the many facets of China.
In my work I use my own feelings and perspective to portray Chinese old-fashioned society. In my life, I am first an artist and second Chinese ."

Yinxin's Foreword exhibition in Taiwan December 1991

I received my early art education in a special environment. I was born in Kashgar, a remote Muslim town in western China and grew up in Urumqi. During my childhood, I was greatly influenced by the different religions and cultures I encountered. Islamic mosques, Buddhist temples' frescoes and banners bearing political propaganda blended together into a strange, playful picture story. These images served as a vehicle of enlightenment for me, spurring my interest in painting, which I pursued earnestly, painting political slogans on walls without comprehending their significance. This must have been rather like the young Buddhist disciples centuries earlier, who innocently painted temple murals, oblivious to their religious significance. Just as they, I was motivated only by the simple desire to paint. At the time I received my first formal education in art, Russian style methodology was very popular. I spent seemingly endless hours painting still life and plaster figures in order to get into the Academy of Fine Arts. I had difficulty tolerating such inflexible teaching methods.

At the time, there were new currents in the arts. Different philosophies and trends such as "85 New Wave Fine Arts" and "Aesthetics Wave" all influenced me deeply. I do not recollect any teacher at the Academy who gave me any new inspiration. Indeed, the sole rewarding aspects were the all-night sessions spent with classmates discussing our ideas, going through all of the fine arts periodicals that we could find in the library. Galleries were only exhibiting traditional Chinese art and propaganda paintings. There were virtually no galleries or museums exhibiting modern or Western art. Although we had not yet discovered our own creative outlets, we were certain that the outdated, rigid style we were taught at the Academy would get us nowhere. At one point during this time I thought of giving up painting. It was not untill I had moved overseas that this situation changed.
Over such a long period, traditional teaching methods had so hampered my creativity that when I gained the true freedom to paint, I could not. I was like a woman who has had her feet bound for so many years that the moment the binds are released she wants to run but finds she cannot. Upon arriving overseas, the culture shock and the language barrier made it difficult for me to adapt immediately. I spent a great deal of time in museums, galleries, and libraries. When I worked with other artists I began to discover that I shared both similarities and differences with them, especially in terms of Eastern and Western culture and western concepts of creative technique. We were all able to find new forms of expression between Eastern and Western cultures.