Shang Yixin graduated from China Academy of Art (MFA) in 2007 and currently lives and works in Hangzhou. Since 2008, Shang Yixin has searched for a new medium to express his thinking. From 2008 to 2011, Shang created a series of light installations on the mutually constraining relationship between light source, object, and shadow. This group of artworks directly influenced Shang's work on canvas. He has reduced the elements on the canvas down to the most simple—the square.
Read MoreIn 2011, Shang chose the square as the sole element in his creative practice. In his works, squares have been reduplicated into a matrix. Their interconnections form a structure, a totalizing organization. Each work is the result of multiple layers of overlayed square matrices. As a result, in the course of rationally, consciously arranging and planning the work, its "trajectory" is slowly generated. In other words, Shang's practice does not engage cultural phenomena or emotional expression; rather, it is a rational appeal achieved through a process of sensorial experimentation.
As one of emerging young artists, his works recently have been shown in many group exhibitions, such as Daily of Concept: A Practice of Life - The Fifth Shanghai Duolun Youth Art Exhibition at Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai (2012), and ON | OFF: China's Young Artists in Concept and Practice at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing (2013). His works will also be included in Rubell family collection new exhibition 28 Chinese, Miami (December 4th, 2013 - August 1st, 2014).
Text courtesy Beijing Commune
