The three artists who I have chosen to analyze for this project are: Zhao Xiao Li, Lindsey Stirling, and Yuumei.
Xiao Li Zhao is a Beijing-based artist who is known to take discarded furniture to turn into works of art. She began her work in 2014 under the username lemon_zhaoxiaoli and garnered massive attention on Instagram and Douyin (a video-sharing platform similar to Tiktok), having a total of 1 million followers on Instagram and 8.5 million followers on Douyin. Zhao finds inspiration from classical painters like Van Gogh to Art Curator Rongzhi Lu and studied painting alongside Ukranian Painter Mykhailo Guida. On both platforms, she uploaded videos of her process, showing the world how she throws her oil paints over her canvas without any reservation and consequently splattering it over the room as well as her clothes and hair in the process. Her form of art is not just the painting she produces. Rather, the entire process, the room, the music played in the video, her ruined dresses—all of it is a part of her form of art.
Lindsey Stirling is an American violinist who rose to fame after competing in the 2010 season of America’s Got Talent. Despite being told that she would not be able to become a successful solo-artist by the three judges and being voted off, Stirling came to prove each and everyone of their statements wrong and was eventually even invited back on the show to perform in the 2014 season of America’s Got Talent. While Stirling might be comparable to other EDM artists in terms of music, her form of art is not just the music played on her violin. Her form of art is the amalgamation of electronic dance, hip-hop, and classical music, which creates a performance altogether for her audience to experience. This is reflected amongst her education. Despite her obvious love for music, Stirling had gone to school for film rather than for music, which is where she draws inspiration for her art from, going so far as to come up with the idea for a video first before the song itself.
Yuumei, also known as Wenqing Yan, is a Chinese digital artist based in California. She spent the first nine years of her life in China where she had attended Chinese art classes that focused on realism and earned a bachelor’s degree in UC Berkeley’s heavily philosophical art program. She gained recognition via Deviantart in the early 2000s. According to her website, much of Yuumei’s art is influenced by nature, personal experiences, and the “beauty and complexity of life.” Despite having a very apparent gravitation to illustration, Yuumei also practices sculpting, photography, design, and storytelling via webcomics when she is not illustrating.
In terms of my reason for choosing these three artists, I can say that it is due to the constant present in their works: the expression of emotion. Xiao Li Zhao produces paintings in unrestrained emotion, not caring for the mess or consequence that comes from the creation of her art. Lindsey Stirling showcases her music in a theatrical performance that inspires the viewer to dance along with her. Yuumei’s illustrations are all purposeful and exist to inspire thought and emotion, be it sorrow or wonder, in the viewer.
