Donglai Meng

Donglai Meng, Untitled #2, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm, 2019

Meng’s interest originates from the study of psychoanalysis, which reveals the contradiction and split between human consciousness and subconsciousness. Therefore, her artistic practice is to constantly capture and feel the inner state of human beings in different contexts.

Working with installations, paintings, short stories, or videos, she is exploring the mental world of people inward, while researching the connection between real society and human psychology. By endowing her works with fictional narrative backgrounds she’s creating insinuations and reflections on the real problems, trying to draw viewers’ attention to their inner experience.

Her recent Hairy-Legs series was developed during the recent two years of pandemic, in an effort to capture the mental states of ‘immersive daydreaming’ during isolation. Daydreaming carries unknown emotions, and the emotional tension comes from the uneasiness of reality. These works examine the balance between the tiny individual soul and the contemporary social environment in which the body exists through stylized, figure-based visuals.

Chinese artist, Donglai Meng earned an MA in Fine Art at Master Institute of Visual Cultures AKV St.Joost, Den Bosch, The Netherlands and a BA in Oil Painting from Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, Rome, Italy. Donglai currently lives and works in The Netherlands.