Duan Jianyu: Yúqiáo

Duan Jianyu: Yúqiáo is the first English-language catalogue dedicated to the Guangzhou-based artist. It accompanies her first major UK solo exhibition in more than a decade and the inaugural programme at the London-based non-profit project space YDP (Yan Du Projects, 4 October–20 December 2025). The catalogue features twenty new paintings that reimagine yúqiáo—a classical Chinese motif of a fisherman and a woodcutter as wise, reclusive figures—into Duan’s shape-shifting characters: goats, cows, a black cat detective, and the artist herself, revealing quiet wisdom, humour, and vitality in daily life. Functioning as a parallel dialogue to the exhibition, the catalogue sits between conventional documentation and an artist’s book, echoing Duan’s distinctive narrative approach and inviting readers to drift through the textures of her imaginative world. Creative writings by Yang Zi and Bang Wang, an essay by Lydia Yee, and a conversation between Duan and Yang offer multiple perspectives on the artist’s practice, rooted locally yet resonant globally.