Edge Gallery Jul 30 to Oct 30
Artist Yan Renkui's emotional depth is not immediately apparent in his colourful and playful paintings. The relationship between the playful aesthetics of his work and the deeper meanings behind them is complicated.
Like a chocolate-covered peanut, the superficial subject matter draws you in before you reach the more substantive centre; without the coating, the peanut is unexciting but without the nut the thin layer of chocolate is a temporal burst of sweetness and nothing more.
Going on show at Edge Gallery tomorrow are some of the Yunnan-born Yan's paintings in bright pastel colours. The exhibition's title, New Fable II, suggests his works will, like a fable, provide viewers with an 'ironic, advisory, or moral lesson'.
According to gallery owner Michael Chan, Yan is a painfully shy individual who has trouble expressing himself. Perhaps the paintings are a microcosm of his personality, in that superficially everything appears simple and happy, but beneath the surface, there is much more going on.
Much of the artist's early work features writhing, tormented nudes trapped in boxes - perhaps a metaphor for his emotions, trapped beneath his reserved disposition. The paintings help Yan convey his inner emotions and advice to the world with which he has trouble communicating, says Chan.