Alexandra Yan Wong is a London-based artist. Her paintings explore the interplay between the abstract visual and the personal mind. Drawing inspiration from the shapes and tones in her surroundings, she translates them from memories and feelings onto the surface of the canvas. Her work has a repetitive and meditative approach, with gestural mark-making and rich textures built through a variety of materials emblematic of space and time. Alexandra read Modern Languages at University of Oxford, and using her background in literature, she draws on the role of the individual through combining tactility with abstraction. At its core, her work revolves around bringing into reality an internal world, combining the outward mundane with the inner experience.

Materiality underpins Alexandra Yan Wong’s work, which arises from her interest in understanding the psychology of perception and aesthetics in the modern world. Formally a linguist with a background in German literature and philosophy, she swaps words for paint, stain, paper, fabric, wood amongst other materials. Their spatial arrangement, concealment and destruction highlight their tactility and the work’s narrative form. The cross-cultural influences in Wong’s works can be seen in her use of colours and brushstrokes reminiscent of calligraphy. The combination of expressive marks and considered repetition attests to the tension inherent in perception, reflecting a similar tension which maintains the balance in the symbiosis between our being and the wider world.

Alexandra Yan Wong's recent work reflects her reflections on her upbringing in Hong Kong and subsequent move to the UK. Recent travels have stirred a sense of nostalgia, forcing Alexandra Yan Wong to investigate her roots and revisit topics that have only scratched the surface in her academic career.Drawing inspiration from her Chinese origins, Alexandra Yan Wong incorporates a wide range of calligraphic strokes and juxtaposes them with geometric shapes. Rather than focusing on the contrast between the fluidity and rigidity of this duality, the overlapping layers reveal an organic process to reconcile traditions and beliefs of the past and present. It is a serenity and calmness brought about by determination. In this way, Alexandra Yan Wong hopes that the viewer will find in the paintings a moment of stillness, a state of suspension where introspection is free.