Artist Yin Shi Long
Speaking with Artist Yin Shi Long today, December 14, 2016, it was nice to learn about how the Artist(s) think about their work. Artist Yin has been an active artist in Guizhou for many years. Although his work is truly professional quality, he has done many kinds of work to support himself, his wife and six year old daughter. Artist Yin paints murals for people, does photography, and teaches art. Over the years he has done many kinds of work, often with the artist’s eye for design. He comes from a family of working people, not independently wealthy. His father always had some kind of art in the home, especially the lifelike tiny figurines made of bread dough.
Artist Yin’s Uncle Yin Guang Zhong (Uncle Yin ) was an inspiration to him and helped teach him in his teenage years. Today we talked about his thinking behind the paintings and abstract head sculptures. 
You may notice that the faces in the paintings have no eyes. Also, there are also no eyes in the sculptures. That is because many people are blind to the beauty of nature around them. It may have something to do with the fact that people are so busy making money. Many people only care about money. Some artists are criticized by their friends because they don’t make very much money. Yet the artists see the beauty around them.
Angry Stone of the Mountain God
One painting is a called the Angry Stone of the Mountain God. It shows a natural stone in the Guizhou area that Artist Yin passes every day. The painting has a darkness, showing the anger of the Mountain God, which represents Nature. After Yin had completed the painting, his anger about the polluted environment was diminished. The art was a kind of release of emotion. Artist Yin explained that people are angry, but they don’t know how to express this anger. The artist can help create this communication. Like a volcano about to erupt, people have emotions which they do not express. Then sometimes there is an explosion.
The many faces sculpture visualizes the moods of a person. A person really has many faces depending upon what the surrounding conditions create. A person can be good or bad, often depending on the environment that this person is in. 
You may feel that someone is a good person, but from a different angle, or in a different environment he is different. People can be good, bad, kind, frightened, aggressive, happy, or sad. Time and environment creates many faces for one person.
From his father, Artist Yin learned how to use bread dough to make figurines. This work is not displayed this month at the gallery, however, he has given us some pictures of his other work. These particular figurines tell a Chinese story about the punishment of a bad person. Chinese have a long history. This story is one known to many Chinese, from the Qing Dynasty in Guizhou Province: “Mr. Ding Kills Andehai”.
The Artist creates a mood for each person. Each person can see something different in the Artist’s work. Artist Yin gave us his visualization.
The Art of Yin Shi Long will be on display at Shirley Gallery until the end of the month (Dec 2016).