Meet Gloria Zhixin Yang | Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gloria Zhixin Yang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gloria Zhixin, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I come from China, I started to learn art when I was a child, and since then I have always stuck to it. At that time, I was very fond of reading illustrated books, especially the adult picture books written by Jimmy Liao. He made me think that picture books can also be very philosophical, so I always think the people who draw picture books are very talented. When I was in high school, I designed clothes for the school’s fashion show, so I thought I liked fashion design for a while, but finally I found it was not my field. After high school, I came to California. I graduated from UC Berkeley as an undergraduate in Art Practice, during which I mainly studied graphic design, photography and fine art. The theory of graphic design helps me learn how to appreciate and manage elements in a picture plane on the basis of my childhood art foundation. Fine art opens my horizons and helps me to think about the possibility of art and the interesting concepts behind it. Photography is more like my all time motivation. I really like the smiles of people when I take pictures and the process of observing and recording reality. All these experiences emboldened me to learn to be an illustrator. I think illustration can combine my favorite art field and technology, because it is a subject full of imagination to tell stories. I finally chose to study illustration as a graduate student and was admitted to MICA. At present, I am also experimenting with new media, themes and ways of creation in different illustration projects.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think the bottleneck is different for each time period. I was lucky enough to decide at a very young age that I was going to go down this path and keep learning about it, so it was easy for me to learn art. Because I am now studying illustration, some of my old ideas and habits are being changed. Under the influence of some Chinese art education, we will usually give a detailed and true portrayal of an object. Therefore, I think I often lose my free imagination and the confidence to do whatever I want when I create. Secondly, because I enjoy documentary photography, sometimes I cannot completely abandon the factor of reality, because I appreciate the details and scenes that exist in reality. I think finding style is sometimes a long and difficult process. It is a process that requires one to be completely honest with oneself about one’s inner world. I am now learning to create in a way that makes me happy, and trying to make the result look good and meaningful. My current field is illustration and photography. In graphic art, I think my areas of expertise are line drawing, color, and composition. Since I learned Chinese traditional claborate-style painting when I was a child, I think I can control the thickness and density of lines. Composition is a skill I learned through the practice of instant reaction photography. Color is a process that makes me feel comfortable physically and mentally. I feel that my thoughts and emotions are released in the process of coloring. Thematically, I tend to depict images and stories related to identity, culture, memory, and nature. In the picture book “Belonging”, I describe the stories of several wandering cultural relics traveling back to China. Although my style has changed, I still love the logic of the story and the excitement I felt while researching for the story. “Rainbow Night” is a graphic novel about the daily life of different night workers. I like to observe and record the lives of different people in an interesting way and share it with people who want to know and understand them. I look forward to a closer relationship in the heart between people, and a more sincere sharing and facing of their own lives and the lives of others. I also want to encourage a renewed appreciation of things and objects in reality that are enough to generate imagination. Recently, I have also made more illustrations and 3D work about memories, nature and food. I hope that both children and adults can see their own reflections in my works and try to create a world that stays in the memory of dreams.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since I do not have a lot of playful experiences in where I live right now, if I go back to California, I would like to take my friends to Lake Tahoe, Venice Beach, or the Huntington Library. I especially like the place where I can get close to nature. I think it is a very happy thing to watch the sunset with my friends in a beautiful place. Eating good food is also important and happy for me, but I hope the booking and going process is not too complicated. Actually, going to amusement parks, galleries, and going shopping are also fun for me, but I prefer activities related to nature. Sometimes when I go out, I prefer to observe how others live and play from the perspective of a spectator, which is a kind of enjoyment for me.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
In my life, I think everything I have experienced, every person I know, every movie and book I have seen can be my influence and form my aesthetic view and world view. Besides my family, there are four people I want to thank most. The first is Jimmy Liao, an illustrator from Taiwan, China, who accompanied me throughout my childhood. I love his rich imagination and meticulous and gentle expression techniques, so he is the reason and goal for me to learn illustration. The second person I would like to thank is my first and eternal painting teacher Guangrong Ren, who is my teacher and artistic grandfather. I thank him for his tolerance to art and his encouragement to me, which makes me keep my passion for art. He was like the man who gave me matchsticks throughout my artistic career. He made me believe that there is always hope. The third person I would like to thank is the young artist Fangrenqi. Through his share of conceptual portfolio and subsequent communication, I have deeply realized the importance of concepts in modern art. It is not the technique that makes art last, it is the idea behind it. Finally, I would like to thank Shunran Xue, my first illustration teacher, who made me understand the efforts and persistence behind becoming an excellent illustrator. He also made me realize the importance of intensive practice and artistic appreciation in shaping style and enhancing professional ability. In general, I think I could not have become who I am without what I have been through, and I am grateful for what I have.

Website: gloryyzx.com

Instagram: gloryyzx

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQxHKpXnvCnjhPGa_uck0rw

Image Credits
Gloria Zhixin Yang