Exhibition Opening | Yanmei Jiang: A Toe in the Water

Name: Exhibition Opening | Yanmei Jiang: A Toe in the Water
Start: 2025-09-05T18:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-09-05T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Gallery 456 / Chinese American Arts Council, Broadway, New York, NY, USA

Schedule

Fri Sep 05 2025 at 06:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Gallery 456 / Chinese American Arts Council, Broadway, New York, NY, USA | New York, NY

Chinese American Arts Council/Gallery 456 is pleased to present Yanmei Jiang’s solo exhibition: A Toe in the Water curated by Alamo Artworks on view from September 5 2025 through September 19 2025.

Exhibition Statement

Compression color becomes resistance—each mark a declaration of presence across time. These works speak through imbalance: between seen and unseen center and margin pigment and absence. What may seem like silence is ancestral memory held in every brushstroke. The insatiable emotions and conflicting energy are hidden in the painting flowing from history to present from personal to collective through contrasting colors and interwoven strokes.

Artist Statement

These paintings are selected from my work over the past two years. I use different materials such as acrylic oil pastels and oil paint to express conﬂicting energies. For me colors embody the complex emotions that are suppressed within. Coming from a traditional family in China I carry emotions that are both deeply personal and inherited.
When I arrived in a new country the clash of cultures awakened these dormant emotions and wounds. Through strong contrasts interwoven layers and entangled colors I attempt to give form to this complexity. In my paintings I also draw from calligraphy and Chinese philosophy on energy and balance. Through art I seek a sense of peace and a poetic way of being.
Before painting I worked as a photographer. My ﬁrst recognized series Me and Me explored self-exploration within intimate relationships in China. Using the body as a medium I blurred the boundaries between masculinity and femininity reﬂecting inner struggles while questioning traditional roles. This process of inward reﬂection and healing is something I now pursue more directly through painting and performance. Abstraction has become my primary medium.
Sensitivity to my environment is a vital source of my practice. In new surroundings I try to embrace new cultures and ways of living. In the past two years of art practice I have been working to clear and understand my inner self. Looking forward I hope my work will continue to engage with the present environment while expanding into installation and performance. The pursuit of balance amid conﬂict remains at the heart of my practice.
Artist Bio
Yanmei Jiang is a Chinese artist based in New York. After beginning her career in photography she gradually shifted her practice toward painting and installation. She explores the flow of energy between the inner spirit and the surrounding environment while also responding to the absences and longings from her childhood. Drawing from Asian philosophy she works with simplicity and balance seeking reconnection with self others and the world through poetic presence.)
Curator Bio
Alamo Artworks (b. 1997) is an American-born Italian sculptor who was raised in Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Museum School in Boston and went on to complete a master’s degree at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. Currently he is pursuing a doctoral program in Visual Art. Deeply inspired by both his heritage and surroundings Alamo continues to expand his artistic horizons within the American art scene drawing influence from institutions like Freeport Art Handling and beyond.
Opening Reception: September 5 2025 6-8pm
Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Gallery 456
Hours: M-F 1-5PM and by appointment
Address: 456 Broadway 3rd Floor New York NY 10013 Elevator Accessible Contact: (212) 431-9740 | [email protected]
Website: www.caacarts.org | Instagram/Facebook/Twitter: @caacarts
Chinese American Arts Council's Gallery 456 Visual Arts Exhibition Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.