Yafeng Duan Form of the Formless

Most important when painting is to switch off your head, to let yourself be guided, says German-Chinese painter Yafeng Duan, who was born in Hebei in 1973 and now lives in Berlin. In what way do the paints participate, how do canvas and paper behave, where does the brush lead the hand? Airy and dense, light and dark, inner and outer world, broad brush-strokes and fine lines in the tradition of ink painting, resistance and flow, solid surfaces and floating colours. All of this, Duan continues, corresponds to the rhythm of breathing in and breathing out. Added to this is the element of chance, which can be brought into play without esoteric connotations, as for instance with the compositional technique of John Cage, who drew on the “ I Ching” as a structuring principle. Ideas of form are thus invariably linked to procedural questions: in what way does chance influence the work, how much of this chance is good for it? Originating from Taoism, the principles of yin and yang are then almost inevitably invoked. Originally, these terms stood for the » darkness and the south bank of the river« , for a “ shady place“ (yin) and, in contrast to this, for the “ brightness of the sun” (yang).

Originally hailing from Hebei, China, Berlin-based artist Yafeng Duan (b. 1973) has an artistic practice that synthesizes both Eastern and Western aesthetics and traditions. Duan’ s father was an artist, and he introduced her as a child to the tradition of ink-wash painting. The artist first formally studied Chinese painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing before studying Western style painting at the University of the Arts Berlin. Nature and spirituality, as well as classical philosophy, are frequently found at the conceptual core of her work. Jurriaan Benschop is a Berlin-based writer, art critic, and curator who was born and raised in Amsterdam. He contributes on a regular basis to Artforum, DAMn, Arterritory, and other publications. He has authored a book on Berlin’ s development as an art centre after 1989, Wonen tussen de Anderen (2009) and a collection of essays on painting and photography De Berg van Cé zanne (2006). His most recent exhibition project was Geist und Form. Ten painters from Berlin’ at the Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University Bloomington, USA in 2013.