Yi Group

Yi Group

China

Organized by a couple, Yi Group focuses on the contingency and sociality of material, using lithe materials encountered in daily life as vehicles to emphasize issues such as flexibility, the human body, events, and concealment. As is characteristic of creators of fiber art, they are keen on finding subtle and controversial topics amid grand historical narratives and social contexts, metaphorically addressing social relations and existential dilemmas in a flexible, and cryptic way.

Shi Bing was born in 1989 in Liaoning. He graduated from the School of Sculpture and Public Art of China Academy of Art (CAA) and obtained a master's degree in fiber art. He now lives Hangzhou and works at the Department of Fiber Art of CAA. Shi Bing's work explores the imbalance of individual lives in the real world, examines the ontological properties of the human being in an anachronistic state.

Lin Yi was born in 1989 in Chaozhou, Guangdong. She obtained her bachelor's degree from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and her master's degree from China Academy of Art. She currently lives and works in Hangzhou. Lin Yi's work centers on the whimsicalities of daily life, emphasizing the repetitive nature of labor, and reinforcing women’s role and status.

 

Each Other-1

Hair, clock

Variable size

2020


Humans revolve around the cycle of time, without a glimpse of the beginning or the ending. During its movement, the hair creates a twisting force of its own, and the two " temporalities " (or in a sense, two people) that have been linked together are also subtly altering.

Stay together

Aluminum composite panels, artists’ Hair

120 × 90 × 5 cm

2020


In 2020, we were confined indoors for a long time because of the pandemic. During that time, I found myself and my family inexplicably losing a lot of hair, so I started to weave a net using the hair we shed. One night, when the evening sky was extraordinary blue with a half-moon hanging in the distance, I took a photo of that moment and simultaneously felt contentment and grief. With a mixed feeling, I hung the net before the blue sky and felt a bond forming between man and the universe. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than for my family to stay safe and be together always.

Stay together

Aluminum composite panels, artists’ Hair

120 × 90 × 5 cm

2020


In 2020, we were confined indoors for a long time because of the pandemic. During that time, I found myself and my family inexplicably losing a lot of hair, so I started to weave a net using the hair we shed. One night, when the evening sky was extraordinary blue with a half-moon hanging in the distance, I took a photo of that moment and simultaneously felt contentment and grief. With a mixed feeling, I hung the net before the blue sky and felt a bond forming between man and the universe. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than for my family to stay safe and be together always.

 

Being together while illusional separating

Artists’ hair, beechwood

1200 × 5 × 300 cm

2020

 

During the pandemic, the artist Shi Bing and Lin Yi weaved their hairs together and hung them in the space. The “spikes” that protruded from the weaved material and the overall image of the creation greatly resemble an isolation fence. It forms an obstruction in space, albeit minuscule and fragile. This delicate “barrier” mirrors the delicate relationship between people and reflects the special circumstances in which we found ourselves back in 2020. 

 

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