It seems wrong to use words to describe the work of Yangyang Pan. Words are too black and white, letters too rigid to capture what it is Yangyang feels, sees and then translates through her paintbrush. Words seem the opposite of what is evoked: at first an ephemeral grasp on what feels like fleeting beauty, followed by the realization that the beauty has, indeed, been captured and will not flit away in the blink of an eye. This is Yangyang’s gift to us.

But the words do come, sometimes in a rush, prompted by the poetry on canvas proposed by this compelling Toronto artist. We want to elaborate on what she offers; however, if we pause, we realize that there is no need to decipher. We just need to keep looking. For Yangyang Pan’s work is, despite its abstraction (or perhaps because of it), complete in itself. A tidy package on the one hand, a fury of magic on the other, it is a gemstone of narrative, the few perfect notes, a choreography of colour.

Yangyang’s lyrical compositions burst with movement and energy that come to a delicate halt at just the right moment. This is due not to hesitation or reserve, but the artist’s skill at achieving balance. She exercises a certain measure of control over her strokes, yes, but is not afraid to let them lead her to a place where they can remain alive. An accomplished painter for many years, Yangyang’s trust in her brushstrokes and confidence in her palette allow her work to expose a freshness that will not be contained.

Yangyang absorbs the world around her in its most natural state and transforms her observations into paintings that are expressions of this connection. What can be difficult to grasp in its raw beauty becomes finessed into more manageable servings. But the intensity still overwhelms and humbles us./P>

Whether drawn in by the textures, the colours both vivid and gentle or the clever compositions, we are made to feel welcome to take our own place as interpreters within this artist’s realm. Through her work, Yangyang Pan helps us to see a world that is sometimes best described through images rather than words.

Gallery 1313 presents new works by Yangyang Pan, November 28 – December 9 at 1313 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Gallery hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 1 – 6 p.m.

For artist interviews and additional preview image requests, please contact Yangyang Pan at siiso@yahoo.com or visit her website at siiso.ca

SCARSDALE, NY (February 17, 2012)  Madelyn Jordon Fine Art is pleased to announce Spring Fever, a series of new oil paintings on canvas by Canadian artist Yangyang Pan, in her first solo exhibition in New York. An opening reception will be held Thurs., May 3, 2012 from 6-8PM. The public is invited. Previews and private showings are by appointment only.

Pan expansive, joyous paintings are pure aesthetic pleasure. Informed by the controlled chaos of nature, this series of landscape-based, expressionist of works is rich in color and texture, densely packed with oil paint. Celebrating Spring arrival, her emotionally-charged canvases are laden with abstract imagery. Their vibrant palette greens, blues, pinks, yellows and reds applied with alternating heavy impasto brushstrokes and thin washes of oil paint -- create canvases bursting with visual excitement. Pan summer Garden evokes the energy of a star burst with the color palette of her garden. This kinetic composition is composed of visceral markings, each with their own energy, held together as a collective through the connection one brushstroke has with another. Pan explores nature diversity by pairing splashy, exuberant works with compositions of seductive, floating forms, such as in Ebb Tide  with its drizzles of paint and charcoal. These works tend to suggest the captivating nature of slow moving clouds during the vernal equinox or the blooming foliage on Lake Ontario at the start of the season.

Stylistically, Pan fuses Asian and Western sensibilities seamlessly. Raised and educated in Sichuan, China, there is a clear influence of traditional Asian painting in the build-up of her markings on the canvas. At times, Pan crowds paint into corners, leaving white space in unlikely areas. Sometimes her markings cascade vertically, referencing traditional Chinese landscape painting. Other times, she fills the entire canvas with extravagantly colored, uninhibited strokes, recalling the all-over style of Joan Mitchell or Jackson Pollock.

The artist does not make a study or draft of each painting before she confronts the canvas. Instead, all choices, both conscious and subconscious, are made during the creation process. Her mark-making method consists of working herself up into a raptured rhythm while listening to music by Leonard Cohen. In the end, intuitive, gestural brushwork and unpredictable color arrangements form on the canvas. Her subject is the process of painting itself, as she revels in the activity, creating playful accidents that result from free-wheeling experimentation.

The show title, Spring Fever, refers to the common phrase that is used to describe the physical and psychological effects that arrive during a season often considered a time for rebirth and renewal. Spring is often associated with the hostility and hospitality of nature, a tease as the winter weather turns warm, accompanied by bursts of color as foliage blooms. Pan explores these elements of nature in her paintings, developing a visual, saturated language that feeds off of nature impulsive energy. The result is a visual rhetoric of pure feeling and youthful exuberance.

Yangyang Pan was born in 1976 in China. She received her BFA and MFA from the Sichuan Fine Art Institute in Chongqing, China, where she later taught. In 2006, she relocated to Canada with her husband and children. She is currently based in Ontario, Canada.