John Yuyi

Chiang Yu-yi (; born February 21, 1991), professionally known as John Yuyi, is a Taiwanese visual artist. Her practice explores aspects of the social media, photography, and the post internet. She lives and works in Taipei and New York City.

Early life and education Chiang Yu-Yi was born in Taipei. She studied Fashion Design with a Bachelor of Arts/Science at the Shih Chien University. Since the beginning of her career, she has had a significant online presence, on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Before working as an artist, John Yuyi worked as an intern for Jason Wu, an assistant editor at a fashion magazine, and as a model.

Style

Early work In a 2014 swimwear collection project, John Yuyi connects her fashion design education with graphic content creation. For this project, she chooses not to categorize herself purely in either mediums of fashion or photography. In some of her works, she uses a lot of temporary body tattoos on her skin, and then documents the result. John Yuyi describes her style as fun, unpredictable, and bizarre. Regarding the strong performative action in her projects, she said that she has difficulties translating her thoughts to words. Most of her projects allow her to "ease [her] anxiety". She agreed that the products that she sells go beyond the product itself, and that they are symbols and documentations of her artistic actions.

Yuyi has been invited for collaboration with international brands for creative campaigns and commercials projects such as Gucci, Nike, Maison Margiela, and Carven. ( in 2016)

GUCCI meme, 2017 In March 2017, Gucci and John Yuyi released a collaborative campaign photo series on Instagram where John Yuyi utilized her temporary tattoos in reference to the apparatus of Gucci's Instagram page. Gucci writer Samantha Culp describes the photo series "expanded to include 'likes', messages, avatars and logos, inking our very flesh, even temporarily, with the digital structures we inhabit and are now a part of us." The collaboration caught widespread internet attention, and in an interview with BBC regarding the project, she further discusses the nuances of being an artist of the post-internet world, and also how art making helps with her anxiety and bipolar disorder.

I Tree To Call You, 2018 I Tree To Call You is a site specific installation work with temporary stickers of John Yuyi's text message conversations applied upon the leaves of a live tree. The usage of a live tree in an artificial human space reflects John Yuyi's experience engaging in the virtual world. Taipei Dangdai writes "the carried messages on the fallen leaves then become an aphorism in the destiny of someone else in another relationship." I Tree To Call You was first shown during her Gallery Vacancy in 2018, and was later a feature installation at Taipei Dangdai in 2019.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions John Yuyi, Zürich, Christophe Guye Galerie, 2022 The Next Gen: John Yuyi, New York, The Art Vacancy, 2018 My (Temporary) Self, Los Angeles, Make Room, 2018 John Yuyi, Shanghai, Gallery Vacancy, 2018

Selected group exhibitions Why Didn't You Like My Pic?, Taipei, OFFTOPIC, 2016 Undergarments, Sydney, 2017 Taipei Dangdai, Taipei, 2019 SUPERFAN, Gallery Madé van Krimpen Amsterdam, 2024

Awards Forbes 30 Under 30 - Asia - The Arts 2018