Yi Shiang Yang
Yang Yi-Shiang graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tunghai University in 2006. After graduation, she worked briefly as a painting teacher until her debut exhibition, ‘Spirit of Travel,’ at Espace Louis Vuitton, Taipei in 2013. She has shown her work in group exhibitions at institutions including Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (2014); Keelung Cultural Center, Taiwan; and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, where her work was included her work in the Young Artist Collection (2013). She won the Keelung Art Prize from Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, and the first prize at Da-Dun Fine Arts Exhibition, Taichung, Taiwan.
Yang Yi-Shiang’s paintings are largely nostalgic and personal, recording fragments of her life and feelings. They strike the audience with their concepts and sharp sensitivity expressed upon the unsettlements, disappointments, and entanglements of contemporary living.
Could you tell us a little more about your background, and how did you begin creating art?
Not until 30 did I paint for myself. Having been a fine arts teacher for 10 years, I decided to create for arts I love when I am almost 30.
What does your art aim to say to the viewers?
My paintings come from my life experience. Every stroke, every symbol is translated on the canvas like keeping a diary. From the perspective of the viewers, it is like peeking into my daily life and, for myself, I use it as a way out for my feelings, expressing my inner world to the viewers.
Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What is your daily routine when working?
I am a working mother of 2 beloved children, taking good care of them, who makes the moments accompanied by my children transition to the source of my creation. In fact, I am learning my children’s painting technique.
What’s the essential element in your art?
Life experience, loneliness, solitary and solid emotion.
In your opinion, what role does the artist have in society?
I think a true artist does not need to define or seek the role in the society. Instead, one should be focus and completely release emotion on the creation and the role will shout up in the end.
