Yu Hong 喻红

Yu Hong began her artistic training at 14 and in 1984, she studied oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. Because of her proficiency in figurative realism, she was accepted to its Master’s oil painting programme where she was the only woman among 13 students. She graduated in 1996 just as China’s contemporary art scene was emerging.

When the Cultural Revolution came to an end in 1976, many artists sought for independence of style and reinvention of their work to reflect a new culture. Yu Hong’s style still carries traces of the Socialist Realist style promoted by the Chinese government during the Cultural Revolution. A feminine, figurative eye combined with deep emotional interpretation has made her stand out in today’s market driven by abstract art.

Since 1988 Yu has been a teacher at CAFA and had her first solo exhibition there two years later. The theme of ordinary women’s daily lives is very strong in her work. Witness to Growth series (1999-ongoing) records her personal growth as well as her daughter’s. She (2003) is a series of portraits combining photographic and acrylic media showing women in different social strata, their public and private lives, and careers (as diverse as a policewoman to a restaurant manager). Her Gold series (2010-2011) questions today’s lifestyle and values by depicting contemporary situations on gold leaf in classical religious poses inspired by murals in the Dunhuang caves. The series led to two solo exhibitions — “Yu Hong: Golden Sky” (2010) at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, and “Yu Hong: Golden Horizon” (2011) at the Shanghai Art Museum.

The work acquired by the Juanita Collection is “Music – Hua Hua” (2006) is one of 12 works of 6 Venetian and 6 Chinese child musicians she painted during her artist’s residency in Venice, Italy.

In 2013 she had another solo exhibition at the Long March Space in Beijing entitled “Wandering Clouds.” This body of work revealed the mental states and personal histories of six people by addressing the universal experience of depression. Concurrent Realms (2014-15) is a series of works that uses real characters from Yu Hong’s life but shown in fables set in fantastical space and time.

Hong has joined group exhibitions at Michael Goedhuis, New York, the Upriver Art Museum, Chengdu, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her work is held in public collections at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, the Singapore Art Museum, M+ Hong Kong, Long March Space and the Shanghai Art Museum. Her work “Theater of the World’ (2017) was also featured in ‘Art and China after 1989’ at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York).

Yu Hong’s recent solo exhibitions include ‘The World of Saha’ (2019) at Long Museum (Shanghai), ‘Garden of Dreams’ (2016) at the CAFA Art Museum (Beijing), ‘Concurrent Realms’ (2015) at the Suzhou Museum (Suzhou).