Yan Bingqing Paints the Emotions We Cannot Put Into Words

The emotions that are hardest to explain are often the most universal: insomnia, the desire for closeness, silent anxiety, the need for isolation. It is precisely within these suspended emotional states that the painting of Yan Bingqing unfolds in And Thus It Goes, the exhibition at Galerie Urs Meile. The works on view emerged from a year-long process, transforming everyday emotions into intimate, almost surreal images. The figures in the paintings often appear alone, suspended in undefined spaces, with elongated and fragile bodies that seem to lose markers of age or identity. In Chirping, a sleepless young man lies awake in bed while small birds perch on his head like thoughts that refuse to disappear. In Cuddling, two figures embrace in a gesture that feels both tender and suffocating, trapped inside a space enclosed by transparent bubbles. Yan Bingqing works with tempera on wood because the medium allows for constant revisions and layering: the image evolves slowly, leaving traces of previous emotional states beneath the surface. Alongside the paintings, the exhibition also includes small clay sculptures inspired by animals and fragments of everyday life. Rather than telling precise stories, the artist seeks to give shape to emotions that are difficult to name. His works function like emotional mirrors: quiet images that invite viewers to recognize something of themselves within the vulnerability of others.