Ruini Yu
University of Pennsylvania
Endless Attempts
Flexible from 4 x 4 to 8 x 12 feet
Cast plaster on fabric
2022
Artist Biography
Ruini Yu was born in Dalian, China in 2000. Living in a competitive environment enabled her to grasp her talent and passion in painting. She started taking formal art classes for more than 10 years. Being exposed to art at a very young age enabled her to gaze through life in a more artistic manner. Ruini was naturally into the arts as she also went through acting and ballet. As art became a passion, Ruini decided to take it to another level and start art as a career. She studied in Dalian No.15 Senior High School and is currently studying in The University of Pennsylvania under the PAFA-Penn Bachelor of Fine Arts program (2018-present). She took liberal arts classes focusing on psychology, philosophy, and environment. These classes sparked ideas and converted all inspirations and ideas to reality with the help of PAFA's rigorous art programs. Ruini has shaped her career as an artist in PAFA and is beyond proficient in painting, drawing, and sculpting. She was also the Vice-president of the International Cultural Association, an organization promoting international cultures at PAFA.
Artist Statement
I am a painter, sculptor, and illustrator, born and raised in China. I am dedicated to showing mental problems with art. I am a very empathetic person. I can feel the struggles of others very keenly. I hope I can influence and create a perspective of individuals, the people struggling with mental problems, through my work.
I have always been fascinated with the concepts of psychology. I have taken numerous psychology courses at the University of Pennsylvania. This has given me a better understanding of a lot of psychological issues. I also became aware of my own psychological problems through my studies. I found that I'm an ultra-perfectionist believer. Influenced by this mentality, I became a person who is affected by severe OCD.
When I was still in elementary school, I decided that I would pursue a career in the arts. I have been doing various basic drawing exercises in China since elementary school. This has laid a good foundation for my current creation. Although I decided on my future direction at a very young age, in the context of East Asian culture, I had to get high marks in every subject to be considered a good student. Therefore, I started to be strict with myself, which led me to get good grades in subjects like art, music, math, geography, chemistry, and even physical education. On the surface, I was a very successful student, but these "high standards" created an unenjoyable life. Since junior high school, I began to have some uncontrollable obsessive-compulsive behaviors. I inevitably redo every inconsistency that I can find. For example, I will buy a new notebook when I commit a typo on a new notebook because I can't accept that I have a "bug" residing in my notebook. As a result, I own piles of notebooks at home with only a few pages used. I would also give up doing all the plans for the day because a particular plan on the list could not be completed because I thought, particularly, that if one of the planned things were not met, then the day would be a failure. "All or nothing" is always my belief.
Starting with the obsessive-compulsive behavior I am most familiar with, my works will show the various psychological problems one by one. I hope that art can be used to express the behaviors, feelings, and obsessions of some people troubled by mental problems so that people can better understand them. People who are struggling with mental problems can also see themself from the perspective of bystanders through my art.