YUTING DU

Lives and works in New Paltz, NY, USA

Artist statement

Yuting Du graduated from Tyler School of Art and Architecture with a Bachelor’s degree in Metals/Jewelry/CAD-CAM in the spring of 2020. Born in the 1990s in Xiamen, a city of southern China, she grew up where the strict traditions of a conservative family collided with the rapid development of a new cultural society. The large population of China creates a complex socio-economic environment that Du explores through her work. Her fascination with hands and the handmade is inspired by the mass production of materials in her home country either by hand or machine. Du’s observations and diverse experiences in Xiamen, Seattle, and Philadelphia have given her a unique perspective on life. She has found that her connections with average persons inspire her more. Whether they are highly self-disciplined artists, students, teachers, addicts, manufacturers, or workers on a production line, human beings are not machines and while they are diverse in many aspects they also share similarities. Du finds the existence of diversity is the most glamorous part of human society. She is currently exploring simple handshapes in her work. Fingers and palms are the human tool which is used to grasp, hold things and make things. The human hand gesture is a language of its own. The differences of finger lengths, textures, and different manifestations with slight twists and turns convinced her that the gestures of hands are often the expression of emotion and can, therefore, reflect social...

Artwork