Yiming Min

“Yiming Min’s work has never followed expectations. Over the past decades the artist has developed works that have always asked questions about society and the world in the wider sense; early realistic work dealt with the history of China after the Cultural Revolution or the impact of consumerism in the country. Over the past few years, works have become more abstract but a the same time more sensual and poetic, dealing with bigger questions about humanity and our place in the world, concern for nature and a potentially nostalgic view of the past. As modes of expression, the artist works both in painting and with sculptural based works. His paintings can be conceived as dreamscapes, expressions of feelings and spontaneity, albeit ruptured by physical insertions into the canvas, which become literally punctured. The skilfully executed, confident sculptures and installations take their material often literally from the surrounding nature of his studio, which sits on the border between urban and rural China, close to a sprawling urban centre but next to woods and wide open spaces. Incorporating wood but combined with cast materials the artist creates fragile compositions, which subtly comment on our exploitation of nature – a concern we share across the globe. Rather than attempting to provide answers, the artist puts us in a liminal space. Following the title of his exhibition Therefore, as viewers we are directly spoken to and have to think about our own response to both question and answer.

Born in 1957 in Xi’an in Central China, the artist has been widely exhibited and collected in China. As the son of an architect and with an interest in sculpture from his teenage years, Yiming Min chose to explore ancient art in Cian, his native town and former capital of the empire, in one of China’s most respected art schools. He now lives in Xiamen, capital of the Fujian province in South-east China. There he had the opportunity to take his work out into public space, in the form of a number of large-sale public commissions for which he has received numerous prizes. His two most recent solo exhibitions took place in 2013 at the Hong Kong Museum of Contemporary art, Beijing and in 2014 at the Espace Cardin in Paris, entitled “L’émotion de l’instant” [“The Emotion of the moment”]. Following an increased international recognition, his work has as yet to be discovered in the UK.”

Text from the catalog of the exhibition “Therefore,” written by Stephanie Dieckenvoss

Yiming Min is graduated from Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts.
Works and lives in Xiamen