Through Ye’s clever stroke, the poetic impression of his birds unites the dreams and mythologies the world over. Recreating the immediacy of his sketches, in large sweeping gestures, Ye develops a style that is both traditional and anew. This series of paradoxical structures curve the frames of birds: depicting stillness and movement. His ephemeral stroke shows a studied knowledge of form and gesture. Like the scholarly art of calligraphy, his exacting movements breeze through the picture plain. Unlike literati art, his stroke stands formed yet fragmented, elegant yet rough, controlled yet whimsical, thick yet thin. These distorted frames of Ye’s create the image of birds and the expansive connections of mythologies. Birds symbolize the power of spirit and are found throughout legends, both east and west. His birds breathe reality and fantasy, living a world of paradox.

Born in Kunming, China in 1958 and a graduate of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Ye Yongqing has been extensively shown through China, Europe, and the United States. Paint A Bird: Paradox and Reality marks the artist’s returning US solo exhibition in over eighteen years. Ye’s work is included in significant museum, corporate, and private art collections in Western Europe, the Americas, and Asia including the Guggenheim and China Museum of Fine Art.

Robert C. Morgan is an international critic, artist, curator, and lecturer who lives and works primarily in New York City. An author of many books, catalogs, and monographs on contemporary artists, Professor Morgan is focused on the problems of the artist in an era of globalized change and renovation.