Xinguo Yan

About

Xinguo Yan (b. 1999, Henan, China) is a mixed-media artist currently based in London, UK, and Beijing, China. Her work employs installations, publications, printmaking, video, and other mediums, drawing on personal memories and reflections on her perception of time. After reading Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s “Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Volume 2,” she experienced a shift in her perception of time. Unlike the classical linear view, she now perceives time more holistically, as a whole composed of fragmented moments. For her, all past events coexist and occupy the same space. She is also inspired by Eastern traditional Taoist and Buddhist philosophies. Rather than adhering to the classical linear perception of time, Xinguo Yan perceives time as cyclical and holistic.The past may exist before the future, blurring the boundaries between past, present, and future.Like Borges describes it in short story “The Book of Sand”: “If our lives were ‘ropes made of sand’, they would fall apart at the touch.” My present moment is made up of countless piles of the past. There is no connection between the past, present, and future; I am at any point in time.

Her artistic practice delves into philosophical questions of time and existence, serving as a means to confront her own anguish over the passage of time. Her practice is often founded on the properties of materials and distinctive working methods. For instance, in the project “The Book of Sand,” she employs the accordion binding structure used in bookbinding to create a circular installation, thereby expressing the theme of cyclical time. Similarly, she utilises corrosive etching to record the entire process of time’s traces, manifesting the continuous accumulation of time on the same plate. Creating works based on the study and reflection on the techniques used in art projects is her common practice.

Simultaneously, she explores the potential of different mediums within her intaglio printmaking practice. For instance, in the work “Event Horizon,” she employs plaster transfer and drypoint etching to create a series of plaster installations. By extending the flat print image into the materiality of the installation, she evokes a metaphorical representation of time as monuments or relics.