Gao Yingxia: China and Artistic Creation in the 1980s
Sat, Jul 13
|Palo Alto
On July 13, we are honored to host artist Gao Yingxia for a sharing session titled "China and Artistic Creation in the 1980s" in the Bay Area. Drawing from her experiences studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s and her sketching trips to Xishuangbanna, Gao will discuss her creative journe
Time & Location
Jul 13, 2024, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA, USA
About the event
Gao Yingxia, born in 1961 in Yunnan, China, entered the Southwest China Normal University's Academy of Fine Arts in 1983 and relocated to the United States in 2004. Since the 1980s, she has been creating paintings and installation works.
Her works have been exhibited at the "Contemporary Chinese Visual Art at the End of the 20th Century" at the University of Chicago's Department of Art History, the Beijing International Art Expo, the Yuma Art Museum in Arizona, and more. She has held numerous solo exhibitions in the United States, Beijing, and Hong Kong. Gao has been twice nominated for the Arizona Governor's Artist Award.
Her works are widely collected by institutions such as the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, as well as by private collectors domestically and internationally.
Artwork Introduction
In the 1990s, during her free time from teaching, Gao Yingxia spent nine years volunteering at an orphanage in Kunming with her 2-year-old daughter, becoming a "mother" to over 300 orphans. She lived, ate, and slept on the floor with the orphans. This deeply impactful experience inspired Gao to create a series of paintings about the orphans.
In memory of her grandmother, Gao Yingxia spent over a year focusing on the theme of foot binding. She visited more than a hundred elderly women who had undergone foot binding, with the oldest being 91 years old and the youngest 65. Gao collected their small embroidered shoes and created a series of installation art pieces using ceramics and wax, depicting the resilience and fortitude of these women.
Host: Xiao He
A multidisciplinary artist born in Chengdu, China, currently residing in San Francisco. Her palette evolves with her struggles with the complexities of life and self. Boldly exploring unsettling and grotesque themes, she believes that confronting the harsh truths of life is essential.