Yifan Qian Verified

I create self-portraits within surreal compositions which record my state - spiritual and emotional. The paintings are symbolic and abstract in nature, allowing me to express abstract thoughts and emotions, as well as what I am going through at the time of making the art. Themes that I encounter in my paintings include love, relationship, happiness/unhappiness, and philosophical ideas about the universe and human existence. Self-portraiture, which is a big part of my work, allows me to come to know myself more and heal. An idealist and a believer of a Chinese concept that everything that happens in the universe is occurring in the brain ("本自具足"), I explore the universe by exploring my self. Also being a natural attention seeker and having had traumatic experiences in my childhood, I give all attention to myself and relieve mental pain through exploring self-portraits.