Overview

Ye Xue is a contemporary artist whose work draws on both the Buddhist tradition of his native China and the abstractions of Western modernism.

 

Born, in 1962 at Shaanxi, on the banks of the Yellow River, in northwestern China, he has a rich artistic heritage. His grandparents were noted folk-artists in the region, and from a young age he was exposed to a wide spectrum of traditional art-forms, from paper-cutting and stone-carving to animal-skin puppets and embroidery.


He trained at the prestigious Xi'An Academy of Fine Arts, in the provincial capital, where he rebelled against the orthodox Confucian painting-style, and developed an interest in the Western abstract tradition, and a particular passion for the works of Mark Rothko


After graduation he travelled extensively in Gansu Province, and spent time at the Mogao Caves, with their myriad Buddhist shrines and temples. His deep study of the paintings there became the foundation for his artistic practice and the guiding principle of his spiritual life. (For Ye Xue painting and meditation are ‘aligned conditions.’)
 
Using Oriental and Occidental painting techniques and media in daring
synthesis, Ye Xue creates allusive abstract images of great formal elegance and restrained power. To achieve his effects, he uses ink-wash, collage, oil paint, acrylic, frottage, and mono-print - sometimes all on the same picture.


The results resonate with a quiet yet undeniable spiritual force. Ye Xue’s paintings contain always the suggestion of landscape, with its banded boundaries of land, and water and sky. But they draw the viewer beyond the particular into a contemplation of our place in the world, our interaction with the environment, the inter-connectedness of all things, and – even - the journey toward enlightenment. 


Ye Xue is currently based in Beijing. His work has been exhibited extensively around the world: in China, Japan, Europe, Australia and the United States, and is held in private collections internationally.

Works
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 107, 2023
    Yellow River 107, 2023
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 112, 2023
    Yellow River 112, 2023
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 108, 2023
    Yellow River 108, 2023
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 102, 2021
    Yellow River 102, 2021
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 91, 2021
    Yellow River 91, 2021
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 103, 2021
    Yellow River 103, 2021
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 97, 2021
    Yellow River 97, 2021
  • Ye Xue blue ink on paper artwork with gold and black line
    Yellow River 22, 2021
  • Ye Xue ink artwork with orange, green, and black lines
    Yellow River 23, 2019
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 22, 2019
    Yellow River 22, 2019
  • Yellow artwork by Ye Xue available at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery.
    Yellow River 1, 2019
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 2, 2019
    Yellow River 2, 2019
  • Ye Xue ink on paper artwork in red and black
    Yellow River 15, 2019
  • Artwork by Ye Xue with red line in the middle of a dark background, available at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery.
    Yellow River 4, 2019
  • Ye Xue ink on paper artwork in red and black
    Yellow River 17, 2019
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 106
    Yellow River 106
  • Ye Xue grey black and blue artwork in ink horizontal lines
    Yellow River 20, 2019
  • Ye Xue artwork with blue line in the center of a dark background available at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery.
    Yellow River 6, 2019
  • Artwork by Ye sue with dark colors and white line in the center, available at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery.
    Yellow River 62, 2017
  • Ye Xue artwork with green line on a dark background available at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery.
    Yellow River 5, 2019
  • Ye Xue black and grey ink on paper artwork with gold and blue lines
    Yellow River 69, 2017
  • Ye Xue ink on paper artwork in red and black
    Yellow River 16, 2019
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 25
    Yellow River 25
  • Ye Xue, Yellow River 28
    Yellow River 28
Exhibitions
Press
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