YANG Yang

Yang Yang, born in 1982 in Bozhou, Anhui Province, holds a Ph.D. in Art Studies. He currently serves as Director, Professor, and Master’s Supervisor of the Oil Painting Department at Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts (XAFA).

Admitted to XAFA in 2000, Professor Yang Yang began teaching at the academy upon graduation in 2004. He is a member of the China Artists Association and holds several academic positions, including Council Member of the Shaanxi Artists Association, Director of its Youth Art Committee, and Deputy Secretary-General of its Oil Painting Art Committee.

His creative achievements are substantial. His works have been consistently selected for the 11th to the 14th National Fine Arts Exhibitions. Furthermore, they have been included and have won significant awards in major national exhibitions such as the 4th, 5th, and 7th China Youth Fine Arts Exhibitions, as well as the 4th and 5th China Oil Painting Exhibitions. Additionally, his works have been widely featured in various academic exhibitions organized by the China Oil Painting Society, establishing him as a mid-career artist with considerable academic influence in the field of contemporary oil painting.

Aging Cactus represents an introspective and profound shift in Professor Yang Yang’s recent still-life works. Centering on a potted cactus caught between decay and renewal, the painting employs a highly refined composition and restrained yet precise realistic language to focus visual attention on the form of life itself. The tension between withered branches and quietly sprouting buds is embedded within a calm, unadorned pictorial atmosphere, subtly evoking reflection on the passage of time and the resilience of life. Transcending mere depiction of objects, the work points toward a grounded, introspective form of expression rooted in everyday experience.