Email: yangvanessa222@gmail.com
Instagram: nessa222studio
Instagram: nessa222studio
I swim and soak in interstices, between the East and West, tradition and innovation, memory and imagination. My paintings evolve into environments layered with paint, ink, oils, and varnish, where Chinese inks and Western oils create a dance that mirrors my identity as a Chinese-American woman.
Each painting starts like an oil spill that dries into a textured labyrinth. The final touch is Chinese ink applied with traditional brushes, crystallized alongside the oils in a celebration of chemical alchemy, solidifying in harmony from their initial primordial state. By controlling the flow and using gravity to my advantage, I can show vulnerability with my world-building on canvas.
By playing with the chemicals and paints, I’m able to embrace the bubbling, growing, spreading, dripping, oozing, pulsing, and loose control but pull back and let the layers develop their own life. Their coexistence together creates a color play of solidified flowing sludge paused. They settle finally and even though the inks are cracked often resembling bacteria and infection, it shows that they’ve finally rested and decided to embrace their attraction towards each other.
My paintings grow from chaos to calm, from pain to relief, from disorder to order, from natural to unnatural, from discomfort to comfort, from spiritual to scientific, from rejected to absorbed.
My art delves into the Chinese diaspora, encompassing themes like Chinese medicine, intergenerational trauma, health, pain, the body, and the complexities of shame and love.
This synergy creates a conversation between the past and present, subtlety and boldness, suppression, and freedom.
Despite being fluent in both Chinese and English, I often find myself fumbling to a mix of Chinese-English. My artworks serve as visual remedies to my communication hurdles, where words sometimes fall short. They are also visual disobediences against traditional Chinese rules and being more open about gender-based health issues. Growing up in Asia, I was taught traditional Chinese painting but felt constrained by its limitations. As a left-handed child, I was punished for using my left hand in art, leading me to become ambidextrous. I entered local talent shows to share my story and maintain my stance. After returning to the US, I embraced my artistic freedom.
My works are explanations of the questions, “How can I better understand the natural and unnatural world around me? Communicate my sensitive sensory experiences, observations, and memories to people who love me? Share the beauty of a language they don’t understand while keeping its romance instead of being lost in translation? Channel my ancestors' narratives in a way that encapsulates my rebellious nature yet remain respectful?” These are inspections I aim to continue exploring.
Each painting starts like an oil spill that dries into a textured labyrinth. The final touch is Chinese ink applied with traditional brushes, crystallized alongside the oils in a celebration of chemical alchemy, solidifying in harmony from their initial primordial state. By controlling the flow and using gravity to my advantage, I can show vulnerability with my world-building on canvas.
By playing with the chemicals and paints, I’m able to embrace the bubbling, growing, spreading, dripping, oozing, pulsing, and loose control but pull back and let the layers develop their own life. Their coexistence together creates a color play of solidified flowing sludge paused. They settle finally and even though the inks are cracked often resembling bacteria and infection, it shows that they’ve finally rested and decided to embrace their attraction towards each other.
My paintings grow from chaos to calm, from pain to relief, from disorder to order, from natural to unnatural, from discomfort to comfort, from spiritual to scientific, from rejected to absorbed.
My art delves into the Chinese diaspora, encompassing themes like Chinese medicine, intergenerational trauma, health, pain, the body, and the complexities of shame and love.
This synergy creates a conversation between the past and present, subtlety and boldness, suppression, and freedom.
Despite being fluent in both Chinese and English, I often find myself fumbling to a mix of Chinese-English. My artworks serve as visual remedies to my communication hurdles, where words sometimes fall short. They are also visual disobediences against traditional Chinese rules and being more open about gender-based health issues. Growing up in Asia, I was taught traditional Chinese painting but felt constrained by its limitations. As a left-handed child, I was punished for using my left hand in art, leading me to become ambidextrous. I entered local talent shows to share my story and maintain my stance. After returning to the US, I embraced my artistic freedom.
My works are explanations of the questions, “How can I better understand the natural and unnatural world around me? Communicate my sensitive sensory experiences, observations, and memories to people who love me? Share the beauty of a language they don’t understand while keeping its romance instead of being lost in translation? Channel my ancestors' narratives in a way that encapsulates my rebellious nature yet remain respectful?” These are inspections I aim to continue exploring.
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Design Media Arts, University of California, Los Angeles (2019)
Master of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute (2026)
Master of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute (2026)
Solo Shows
TBD
Group Shows
TBD
Press