ABOUT

Panyu Xiao creates a fantastical world full of visual stimuli while observing society in its postmodern context, exploring the ways which humans adapt in an ever changing environment. The vibrant hues of her works allude to our increasingly overwhelming technological age, striving to honor much of its decadent nature, yet simultaneously extracting a tangible parallel in an emotional response and personal translation.

Born in Xinxiang, Henan, China, Panyu Xiao graduated from the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication in 2007, locating to Song Zhuang art village shortly after in 2008 as a working artist, participating in various local exhibitions. She immigrated to Edmonton, Canada in 2011, where she currently resides, working as an art teacher and an exhibiting artist, most notably at the Capital City Art Gallery of Edmonton.

Panyu Xiao aims to create art representational of its purest light - as a feeling of the heart. It isn’t something tangible, where every paint stroke has a reason and justification, but an emotional exercise imbued with the intangible, an emotional exercise where one’s soul permeates through the visual representation. This tension between the tangible and intangible is a frequent theme of exploration in her works, where she suspends the boundaries between the mind, the heart, and the reality they must both face. She believes her art’s purpose is not to portray the grandeur of her vision, but to instead showcase the modesty and tolerance that can only surface after comprehending the limits of her vision.