Visual artist Hanying Xu Follow.Art Card

About me

I have always felt a sense of distance from the world, as if part of me watches Earth from another realm. As a child, I was introspective and quiet, finding human social structures strange and overwhelming. Yet, I have always found more solace in the wilderness— among trees, rocks, and animals—than in the company of people. This sense of disconnection has fueled my drive to explore the unseen energies that govern life, and it has shaped my artistic journey. I embrace uncertainty, boundlessness, and continual transformation, seeking a sense of eternity within fleeting moments. My artistic practice captures the states between different dimensions, using painting to communicate with the unseen energies.
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My current painting practice emerges from otherworldly states encountered within daily experience. Certain places in nature, specific moments in time, and shifts in sound can draw me into heightened awareness. I paint from within this condition, allowing images to emerge through sensation and intuition. Influenced by Carl Jung’s ideas on the unconscious, the I Ching, Daoist thought, and my own meditation practice, I build inner landscapes through painting.
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My painting always starts with active imagination. I use intuitive brushstrokes, allowing the painting to respond to me as I work. Painting serves as a medium for me to channel the physical and spiritual. My rapid brushstrokes are means of communication between the world I try to build and my soul. Works such as Fleeting, Astral, and Unseen Spirit reflect these perceptual states, tracing moments of transformation in which awareness briefly expands beyond ordinary experience.