Shanghai’s art scene is all aflutter at the moment with the name of one young artist. That’s Ying Yefu, anomaly of the ‘gelatin generation,’ as China’s post-1980s artists are known. 

The reaction to his 2009 “No Show” at Shanghai’s Art Labor gallery was a rare bright spot in a difficult year for Chinese art. The entire show sold out. 

Meanwhile, his works sell for US$10,000. But the 29-year old graphic designer doesn’t think of himself as an artist, preferring instead the title “art worker.” 

What’s the hype about?

Martin Kemble, owner of Art Labor gallery, explains it this way. “I’ve never seen people react to artists the way they do to Ying Yefu. People just fall in love with his work at first sight.”

Ying has an appreciation for Chinese art history, and his most recent works use gong-bi, the traditional painting style that requires a meticulous brush technique. “As one of the new generation of art makers, I feel an obligation to use a Chinese way to make Chinese art, while incorporating my own style,” Ying says.

Using a traditional art form to create modern works, the works are unmistakably Chinese, but the content is not. No tired Mao clichés here; Ying’s work doesn’t delve into socio-economic subjects, reflecting broader themes instead. “His work is about the emotional responses to others in his life,” says Kemble. “Emotions are universal. That’s what people are taking from it.”

Questions worth contemplating

His works are appealing and also disturbing, some soaked with an underlying menace. Two infants cradle each other while one holds a razor to the other’s head. A child sews up his own bald head with his braid. 

“These are neat elements in his work, that’s genius. It’s not obvious. His symbolism is very sophisticated, but it’s very subtle,” says Kemble. 

Many of his works feature children, hinting at his own childhood, perhaps not a happy one. “My experience of growing up and the mess that my family gave me allowed me to learn how to think about those problems we shouldn’t think about,” Ying says.

Kemble says that experience helps set Ying’s work apart from that of his peers. “The real criticism of the gelatin generation is they’re spoiled rotten by their parents. Very few artists are doing anything interesting. He’s been through a lot more. He’s been supporting himself completely since he was a teenager.”

Despite the dark themes in his works, Ying says creating art makes him happy and feels nostalgia guides him, citing a 60 year-old man’s longing for his youth as his creative inspiration. But he says, “Actually we’re all big children.”

getting there

Art Labor Gallery
10-36 Yongjia Lu, near Maoming Lu
永嘉路36号临10, 近茂名路
tel ＋86 21 6431 7782, contact venue for art queries