Joanne Yulan is a Scottish-born artist but of Chinese, South African descent. Painting since 2011 she has developed a language for her art that reflects her global heritage. She was encouraged to paint as a child and her mother introduced her at that time to the art of Chinese calligraphy. As an art student, she was drawn to minimal modern art. Her works combine the fluidity and spontaneity of painterly brush strokes with a precise eye for composition and space. Her interest in process painting reminiscent of the heroic works of Abstract Expressionism that dominated mid-century Western Art.
Where previous paintings were inspired by ancient Chinese characters, Yulan’s latest works are further influenced by the artist’s father- a renowned botanist whose research trips to the forests of Southeast Asia provided countless samples of pressed flora from which the following images are derived.
ART
RECENT WORKS
In my new work, I am moving in a different direction. I've never used the colour purple before. At least, the colour ‘reads’ to the eye as purple but when juxtaposed against other colours, appears as a neutral tone. I wanted to make the floral motifs of Dianthus like x-rays or shadows – almost like a blurry memory
These new works give a sense of being temporary, delicate, and not quite in focus- using techniques of calligraphy to apply thin washes of oil paint, as if it’s watercolour. Whilst my previous works portray energy and movement this new series enjoys a more centred stillness.”
ART AND
DECOR
Over the last ten years, Joanne Yulan’s contemporary artwork has been quietly collected by individuals and interior designers for their clients all over the world. She has been commissioned to create artworks for specific projects, by architects and developers. If you have a project you’d like to discuss then do contact us.
