The chaos that was the Cultural Revolution leaves its scars in many ways. For Paris-based artist Yang Din, that cruel time instilled a deep longing for a simpler life, a longing reflected in his paintings.
The background, always in tones of blue, pearl-grey, taupe or off-white, infuse Yang's paintings with a sombre mood although there are occasional splashes of red or more vivid hues.
His compositions, now on display in the territory, maintain that simple approach - the works usually feature only a few subjects, either a cottage, a leaf, a twisted branch or a tree.
Yang insists he is no escapist, but concedes his abhorrence of complexity is a response to the injustices he witnessed as a teenager.
'You crave for a simpler life after going through troubles,' Yang explained.
'I don't like bright colours, like I don't like radical sentiments.' That's why he has concentrated on still life studies and landscapes. 'People are too complex a subject for me.' Indeed, trees appear again and again in the work of this nature-lover, perhaps a metaphor for the human subjects that he cannot bring himself to portray.
