Artist Statement
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.
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, Daoist thought, and my own meditation practice, I build inner landscapes through painting.
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.
Bio
Hanying Xu (b. 1995) is a painter and interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago. Her work explores the relationship between nature, spirituality, and inner perception through abstraction. Influenced by Daoist philosophy, Carl Jung’s theories of the unconscious, and meditative experience, she creates layered compositions that evoke unseen energies and imaginal landscapes between the physical and spiritual realms. Gesture, perception, and intuitive brushwork guide her process, allowing continual transformation and a sustained dialogue with materials.
Xu holds degrees in Econometrics and Management from the University of Sydney and completed post-baccalaureate studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. She is currently a post-baccalaureate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received the Visionary Scholars Award. Her work has been exhibited in Chicago, New York, and Boston, including exhibitions at A Space Gallery, Flowing Space Gallery, and SAIC juried exhibitions, and has been featured in Divide Magazine (Issue 17).