Yanling was born in 1974 in Zibo, a city of Shandong Province. In 1997, she graduated from tradiConal Chinese painCng department of Shandong University of Arts and, in the same year, began to serve as a professional painter in Jinan Art Academy. In 2002,Yang obtained in China Central Academy of Fine Arts a qualificaCon which is equivalent to a master’s degree. Now she is living in Beijing as a professional painter.

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not”.

Georgia O’Keeffe

“In the spring, I bought a bunch of peony and put it in a vase. The entire room became alive .However, the harder they blossomed ,the faster they withered.I didn’t throw away as I usually did, but let them fade and fall.Then I discovered their beauty, a unique kind that can only be achieved by experiencing the full cycle of life, death included. Thus, I made some quick sketches.I love those dry petals and their textured surface, though without the delicate charm of full bloom.In them I saw the power of life ,which can best be expressed using the Chinese ink (SHUIMO) style-no over-saturated colors, but an eternal elegance”.

Yang YanLing

Lydia Duanmu

The tableau of your works is quite delicate and retro. Can you share about the artistic concept in your works?

Yang YanLing

I create color works on silk while black and white ink paintings on rice paper. Yet, I’ve never thought about defining my works or setting a style of my own. I just want to follow the style and techniques of the Song and Yuan Dynasty, and with my tableau, to give the viewers’ more room for imagination. I mean to express the visions through delicate descriptions in my works. Usually I paint when all is quiet. I love those moments when I cannot feel myself while knowing I am there. As I give over my body and mind wholly to the brush and devote all my thoughts to the tableau, I feel as if I had been merged into what I am doing, but on the other side, I keep observing with rationality. Such a status makes the time more meaningful, and saturates my tableau with that message and energy. This kind of rational thinking and self-restraint is right the easy way to freedom.

Lydia Duanmu

Most of your works are decribing the life course of flowers, what’s the consistent idea in them?

Yang YanLing

Compared with of the meassage of a flower, I focus more on its structure, on whether the structure can bring about more space for chages. In the space of this kind, conventions can be broke, and my interpretation of life can be integrated into the object being described. At current stage, I chose to paint flowers because they provide me with more imaginations and freedom in the tableau.