Livien Yin*

Lot #81
The Reunion, 2020
Gouache on Arches watercolor paper
8 x 14 in., Framed: 16 x 20 in.
Courtesy of the artist

About the Artwork

Livien Yin (Headlands Graduate Fellow ‘19–’20) revisits American realist settings where scenes were pared down to the “essentials,” staging these settings with vignettes of early American immigrants openly enjoying the comforts of their new country. The Reunion pays tribute to the Chinese, Irish, African American, and Mormon railroad workers who laid the tracks connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The vignette is portrayed through the visual language of Edward Hopper, Palmer Hayden's John Henry Series, John Egan's harp, and Woody Crumbo's bison, among other references. The Reunion is part of the artist’s Paper Suns series, inspired by the Chinese-born “paper sons” who gained entry to the United States by pretending to be blood relatives of Chinese Americans who had already received U.S. citizenship. Yin painted The Reunion while in residence as a Headlands Graduate Fellow. She is a recent recipient of the American Austrian Foundation/Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts and the Anita Squires Fowler Memorial Award in Photography.

Retail Value: $4,000