The Mirror, 2022

Bao Hongyan  

Bao Hongyan is a Chinese artist born in 1994 who lives and works in Nanjing, China. Her works revolve around emotions, self and gender, offering a unique interpretation of the surrounding environment and the events that occur.

His works express a certain perspective that reflects his vision of the world. This creative approach has evolved from completely unconscious to progressive awareness, constantly learning and improving. She projects a rebellious mindset to examine the conflicting relationships between self and society, with a strong emphasis on individual subjectivity.

Hongyan's works are influenced to some extent by his own ethnic culture in terms of color, which manifests in his application of colors and compositional freedom. For example, blue, white, red, yellow, green, etc. often appear in his works and are sometimes represented by symbols of different colors to represent his intentions.

However, this cultural lens of Hongyan's works is somewhat tangential. His works are also influenced by Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism and Constructivism, which are themes that manifest themselves more consistently.

His symbol formation was originally inspired by Giacometti. At first, his subconscious feelings are transposed on paper. Gradually, this way of expressing her thoughts allowed for a more exaggerated somatic approach, which for her was both liberating and fascinating. This ever-changing symbolism is largely an identifying evocation of Hongyan's works to date.