Kailun Quentin Yang, Tiny Love Diary

FLXST CONTEMPORARY invites you to the debut solo show of Asian queer emerging artist Kailun Quentin Yang. Join us on Saturday, September 23, from 4-7 pm, to celebrate the opening of Kailun Quentin Yang’s show Tiny Love Diary, alongside the two more solo shows of fellow Asian/American queer artists Vivian Chiu and Laura Kina.

Composed of framed mixed-media works on paper, the Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist creates a visual diary of intimately sized work. Influenced by feelings of familial isolation during the pandemic and the rise of acts of violence toward people of Asian descent, the artist turns inward to find a visual language of queer care and healing. The show reminds us that life continues during these times of distress, however minuscule they might be.

The details and precision of the artist's mark-making are Yang's signature. Yang turned to drawing and painting everyday mundane objects, like grass, weeds, the sky and clouds, and even brick walls with flowers growing within their seams to find light and love during troubling times. Kang goes beyond solely painting illustrations he observes in the style of realism. Rather, the objects around are incorporated in fantastical tableaus that brim with whimsy, humor, and mystery. The habit of visually diarizing his immediate environs offers him a source of comfort and much-needed respite from anxiety and worry about his family in China.

Kailun Quentin Yang, MFA 2020 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, installation, drawing, and painting. Born in China and living in America, his works reflect the crisis of identity that is a part of an immigrant’s story. During the pandemic lockdown of 2020 he found a renewed expression in watercolor. His recent work reflects a unique perspective on daily life during the pandemic and the surprising happiness he found through his daily diary of watercolors. He exhibits and speaks internationally.

Image: Tickling Night, 2022. Watercolor, acrylic ink, and colored pencil on paper. Unframed sheet: 12 x 12 in. Framed: 20 x 20 in. Courtesy of the artist.