Viewing Ni Youyu's work often leaves one with a spatial and temporal illusion: outsiders may have difficulty, at first glance, in determining the age of the artist and indeed the age of the works. The artist seems intent on avoiding temporal marks in his oeuvre, instead imbuing his artworks with an abstract trace.
Read MoreNi Youyu asserts that he is not keen on the 'conceptual', even hesitating in calling what he makes as belonging to 'contemporary art'. For many years now, the artist has gone against the grain, even working in a 'low-technique' mode. Many of his artworks often undergo a long process (some as long as several years) and go through a degree of uncertainty from gestation to completion.
It is impossible, therefore, for him to work programmatically 'on order' in the manner of artisans in the classical sense, and for that matter it is also difficult for him to produce works according to an exhibition theme in the manner of a modern artist.
Text courtesy Perrotin.
