Hong Yi, also known as, ‘Red’, is an artist who focuses on the reinterpretation of everyday materials for her work through the accumulation of objects.
Red studied at the University of Melbourne and TUDelft and holds a Master of Architecture. While working in Shanghai for Australian architecture firm HASSELL, Red built installations during weekends from the range of affordable materials available at local wholesale markets. Her artworks featuring portraits of renowned Chinese personalities were circulated widely on social media and media publications, including Wall Street Journal, TIME, New York Times, CNBC and Fast Company. Red has been commissioned by clients such as Facebook, Google, Gucci, Chase JP Morgan and the Mandarin Oriental, and exhibited pieces at the World Economic Forum (Davos), Anchorage Museum (Alaska), Design Miami (Miami) and the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco). Sotheby’s Institute has named her one of the “11 art world entrepreneurs you should know” in 2018.
Red is currently working on her first solo exhibition (likely to be in March 2019 in Hong Kong) while managing her design studio, Red One Studio.
Her talk will be about how her background in architecture informs the way she creates art – usually of everyday objects, and into big installations. Red will talk about how she challenges to look at the familiar and mundane with fresh eyes, and about how exploring new places and meeting people of different cultures has influenced her work. She will cover materials ranging from teabags, to chopsticks, to socks, and to her current medium: eggshells.
