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"JOYJOE"

Yuyue Zhou

Profile picture of Yuyue Zhou

I am a Chinese artist graduated in sculpture from the China Academy of Art, working and living in Hangzhou and London, and an art self-publisher working with painting and contemporary art installations. 

My creative background is based on self-perception in daily life. From the perspective of material media, my practice can be divided in two parts: installations and paintings.

The installations focus on the fictionalisation of daily events and the fabrication of “real performances”. They revolve around the use of everyday objects to establish fictional narratives, creating scenes with absurd and dramatic effects. These works contain elements of self-mockery and provocation, exploring the viewer's experiences of events, and their impact.

The paintings focus on individual queer identities, and gender perceptions in social groups and daily life. The objects in the images serve as multiple metaphors, portraying the individual as the smallest unit through the form of "self-portraits". They reflect emotions and feelings from both familial and societal perspectives.

Since graduating from my undergraduate studies, I have held several group and solo exhibitions in art galleries and museums in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.

 Additionally, I am a principal curator in the curatorial team Tproject in China, and I have curated exhibitions in various art museums in the country, such as Chiasso Perduto, Sanshang Contemporary Art Museum, etc. My work revolves around each exhibition, as well as interacting with and participating in the work of international artists. 

Furthermore, my paintings have been featured in major brands and magazines, such as Ein and Modern Weekly.

I am a Chinese artist graduated in sculpture from the China Academy of Art, working and living in...

In the MA Show, my work is divided into three parts: painting, sculpture, and installation.

The theme of my creation is my self-chosen English name, "JOYJOE," which, when translated into Chinese, happens to be a homonym of my Chinese name, therefore it becomes a symbol word that represents me, and I hope it can invite everyone into my world. Following this theme, my creations are precisely based on self-perception in daily life. It not only includes self-reflection, but also alludes to the forces exerted on individuals by the outside world. 

My paintings focus on the individual identity of queer individuals, and the presence of gender perception in social groups and everyday life. My inspiration comes from my personal experiences as a member of the queer community, navigating within the context of traditional Chinese families and societal environments, which significantly influence self-perception.

The sculptures are arranged in the space, creating a distant echo of the paintings. The baby mask sculptures, shaped after myself, are continuously replicated into 24 replicas, and arranged in a row on the ground. They stem from my retrospective exploration of the past self and the ever-shifting nature of self-awareness. Simultaneously, the concept of "repetition" is also connected to the installation works. 

Unlike the more explicit personal emotions conveyed in painting and sculpture, my installation works draw inspiration from fictionalising everyday events and fabricating authentic performances. They revolve around constructing fictional narratives, exploring the viewers' experiences of the events and their impact. The index finger becomes the externalisation of my subjective consciousness, as I materialise this identical conscious object as the template for continuous replication. Meanwhile, reality is worn away in the temporal act, leaving behind a "trace" as a "document." This is based on the fictionalisation of reality, pointing to people's experiential understanding, and the resulting misinterpretations of events.

Final work

  • My paintings focus on the individual identity of queer individuals and the presence of gender perception in social groups and everyday life.
  • My paintings focus on the individual identity of queer individuals and the presence of gender perception in social groups and everyday life.

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"JOYJOE"

In the MA Show, my work is divided into three parts: painting, sculpture, and installation.The theme of my creation is my self-chosen English name, "JOYJOE," which, when translated into Chinese, happens to be a homonym of my Chinese name, therefore it becomes a symbol w...

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