She’s the perfect yin yang representation of East meets West, and spent her youth in Rome, graduated from the London School of Economics and lived abroad in Paris, where she experienced an artistic burgeoning.
She’s seen her artwork exhibited around the world, from New York’s Dietch Projects, to Basel Art Fair and the Venice Biennale. Highly regarded for her surrealist 3-D video animations, Yi has also conceived a new personal mission: to help foster the creative communities within Mainland China.
"I think my role is to help young Chinese people find a new creative way of being, which isn’t swallowed up by all of the modern day branding," she tells us, during a recent visit to Hong Kong to promote her solo exhibition "Sculpture Labyrinth: A Journey of My Mind" at Hanart TZ Gallery.
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As the recently appointed fashion and arts advisor for Chinese media company Sina, and through various content collaborations – from Lane Crawford’s Modern Media Exhibition to the video which she produced with fashion stylist Nicola Formichetti featuring Chinese designs, Yi hopes to call attention to a rising Chinese creative class.
Here’s why we think this tall, long-haired artistic beauty is up to the challenge as a powerful force to be reckoned with…
1. SHE GETS IT. Even her fashion choices are indicative of China’s market and its forays with the West. Yi arrives to meet us in a Julia Restoin-Roitfeld design for Chinese mass brand Me & City, inspired by the 1984 Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas, and its cult heroine Jane Henderson. With a complex mind that fuses all realms of art – i.e. fashion and film – Yi coolly recreates the scene for us over East, in Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental Landmark Hotel.
2. SHE KNOWS THE RIGHT PEOPLE. She’s worked with influential figures from Sir David Tang, KBE (he was the distinguished guest of honour for her opening of “Sculpture Labyrinth”), designer Diane von Furstenberg, also the
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president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and music producer Pharrell Williams (she produce video art animations of the latter two). She’s also a close friend of Oliver Theyskens of his brand Theyskens’ Theory.
3. SHE STAYS AHEAD OF THE CURVE. Being entirely self-taught in the arts, Yi uses a multifaceted, virtual and unconventional approach to her artwork, which has been met with international acclaim. "In my point of view, it has always been about multimedia – from performance to photography and of course video – that’s the way the world has been going," Yi says, later adding,"I never thought I would be an artist."
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All photos were taken at the
Landmark Mandarin Oriental and
Hanart TZ gallery.