From afar, Yesiyu Zhao’s new body of work appears abstract in its approach to color, texture, and form. The paintings’ precise geometric shapes and monochrome color palettes evoke refracted water or glass illuminated by light. Yet despite their abstract appearance, Zhao describes this body of work as his most figural to date, illuminating the hidden figures that personify invisible energy exchanges between each of us.
Zhao’s work explores that which cannot be seen: the tangible atmosphere that exists beyond the visible field. The artist inscribes the body into the work, using the canvas as a diary for recording daily observations. Then, using a carving knife, he excavates pigment in segments, revealing geometric shapes beneath. Like paper cutting, each step of subtraction reveals a new layer of recollection.
This body of work takes inspiration from Chinese opera, in which performers wear intricately painted masks adorned with natural motifs such as butterflies. Each work in the series maps a different stage of metamorphosis: from the chaos of the chrysalis, through the precarious work of breaking out of the shell, to the rebirth moment when the subject ventures into the world, and finally to a state of being pulled in multiple directions at once, yet feeling settled amid the changing nature of the self. Of this philosophy, Zhao said, “Through color, shape, and the traces of my own gestures, the spaces in-between become the primary subjects. Ultimately, these physicalized frequencies serve to document the extreme fluidity of humanity.”
Yesiyu Zhao is a Chinese queer artist based in New York whose practice investigates the fluidity of identity and the resonance of the embodied experience. While Zhao’s previous work utilized "hybrid" forms to navigate the intersections of Chinese heritage, American culture, and queer identity, their current practice transcends these literal markers to capture the ontological frequency of the figure. Moving beyond anatomical boundaries, Zhao prioritizes the interstitial spaces and energetic interactions that exist between defined identities. Within these shifting fields, fragments of Peking Opera patterns move in and out of abstraction as butterfly motifs—a dual metaphor for the metamorphosis of the human spirit and the "butterfly effect" of our interconnected presence. By dissolving the cultural and technological constructions of earlier series, Zhao’s work, held in international museum collections, captures the essential, vibrational pulse of humanity that remains when external norms are stripped away.
Yesiyu Zhao (1991) was born in Zhejian Province, China, and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts (2018) and his MFA from SUNY Purchase College (2020). Recent exhibitions include Tomorrow Is Already Behind, Lyles and King Gallery, New York, NY (2025); To Bloom, The Page Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2025); Birth of the Between, Latitude Gallery, New York, NY (2025); Yesterday I became human, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai (2024); Nostalgic Mayfly, StillLife, Shanghai, China (2024); Holiday, Harper’s Books, New York, NY (2024); Alien, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL (2024); Teach Me How to Fish, Art Intelligence Global, Hong Kong (2024); Double Vision, Plato Gallery, New York, NY (2024); The Armory Show, David Castillo Gallery, New York, NY (2024); NADA Miami, Latitude Gallery, Miami, FL (2024); Basel Miami, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL (2024).
