YANG Shaobin

Yang Shaobin is one of China’s most preeminent painters from the 1990’s who continues to experiment and reinvent his work. Dubbed a cynical realist, Yang Shaobin’s work often depicts near-abstract, ghostly humanoid figures and visages. His subject seem pained and weary, their bodies twisted and grotesque. Red and pink are common colours, as well as a variety of blue hues, drawing a parallel to communist China’s propaganda poster. Through his work, the artist keeps reflecting on some of China’s most serious and current problems, such as the country’s communist past, its cultural revolution, savage capitalism, and factory or mine workers’ conditions, commenting on social and economic changes in China.

Born in 1963 in Tangshan, Heibei, Yang Shaobin studied at the Heibei Polytechnical University and then moved to the outskirts of Beijing, a popular area for Chinese avant-garde artists. Influenced by Francis Bacon and Arnulf Rainer, Yang aims at creating discomfort in his viewers. He has exhibited in various prestigious locations such as The Museum of Fine Arts in Bern, Tate Liverpool, Kunsthalle Hamburg, and others.