Welcome Yifan Jiang (RAiR 2021 - 22)
Yifan Jiang in her RAiR studio.
Yifan Jiang was born in Tianjin, China in 1994. The artist received an MFA from Columbia University in New York City and a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. Jiang’s work has been shown internationally at galleries, museums, and film festivals, including a two-part exhibition at Meliksetian | Briggs in Los Angeles, California in 2021. The exhibition featured both Jiang’s painting and an installation of the artist’s video animation. Jiang’s work was featured in the Public Art Fund’s Art on the Grid project across New York City in the summer of 2020. The artist’s performance work was included in the exhibition In Response: We Fight to Build a Free World at the Jewish Museum in New York City. Jiang’s animations have been shown at the London International Animation Festival in London, UK; and the Commiserate Media Art Festival in Chicago, Illinois; among others.
There is something strange about walking around and being human. We use mouthy movements to talk to each other, to eat, to get to the moon, to sing, and to kill each other. Chairs are shaped like butts. There are billions and billions of butt-shaped objects across the globe.
Yifan Jiang is a conceptually-driven, project-based artist who works across painting, animation, sculpture, and performance. Her paintings explore her experiences growing up in a world of multiple cultures and languages. Using absurdist logic and deadpan humor, Jiang’s work hones in on the banal—examining the gray intersections between the scientific, the psychological, and the magical.