Yu Hong 喻红 (b. 1966)

Yu Hong began her artistic training at 14 but took more formal studies in oil painting at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 1984. Because of her proficiency in figurative realism, she was accepted to the school’s oil painting Masters 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 the freedom and independence to pursue their own style and reinvent their work to reflect a new culture. While she has developed her own unique, distinctly modern signature, Yu Hong’s work still carry traces of the Socialist Realist style that was promoted by the Chinese government during the revolution. A feminine and figurative eye, combined with deep emotional interpretation, has made her stand out in a market that’s driven by abstract art.

In 1988, Yu started teaching at CAFA and had her first solo exhibition at the academy two years later. Themes reflecting the daily lives of ordinary women are very strong in her work. The Witness to Growth series (from 1999 and still ongoing) records her personal growth as well as her daughter’s. Meanwhile, She (2003) is a series of portraits that portray women from different social strata, their public and private lives, and careers (as diverse as a policewoman to a restaurant manager) in photographic and acrylic media. Her Gold series (2010 to 2011) interweaves inspiration from the ancient murals in the Dunhuang caves with modern human experience, and questions today’s lifestyle and values by depicting figures in classical religious poses on gold leaf. The series led to two solo exhibitions – Yu Hong: Golden Sky (2010) at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing and Yu: Golden Horizon (2011) at the Shanghai Art Museum.

In 2013, Yu had another solo exhibition at the Long March Space in Beijing entitled Wandering Clouds. This body of work reveals the mental states and personal histories of six people by addressing the universal experience of depression. Concurrent Realms (2014 to 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 in New York, the Upriver Art Museum in Chengdu and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her work is in the public collections of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Singapore Art Museum, M+ museum in Hong Kong, Long March Space in Beijing and the Shanghai Art Museum. Her work, Theater of the World (2017), was also featured in the Art and China after 1989 exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Yu Hong’s recent solo exhibitions include The World of Saha (2019) at the Long Museum in Shanghai, Garden of Dreams (2016) at the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing and Concurrent Realms (2015) at the Suzhou Museum in China. She held a solo exhibition, backed by the Asian Art Initiative of the Guggenheim, at the Venice Biennale 2024 in the Chiesetta della Misericordia. 

The painting that’s part of ECKART ASIA’s The Juanita Collection, Music – Hua Hua, is one of 12 works depicting six Venetian and six Chinese child musicians, which she painted during an artist’s residency in Venice, Italy.