bio/

Kailun Yang is a Chicago-based artist whose practice contemplates the fragile intersection between perception, memory, and the transient beauty of everyday life. Attuned to fleeting moments in natural and urban landscapes, Yang translates subtle observations into intimate visual encounters that evoke stillness, tenderness, and emotional depth.

Yang received his MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2020.

artist statement/

Kailun Yang’s practice centers on quiet observation and the subtle shifts of everyday life. He is drawn to fleeting moments—partial views, shifts of light, and quiet tensions between natural and urban environments—where perception slips into memory.

Working primarily on paper with graphite, colored pencil, acrylic ink, and watercolor, Yang builds images through slow, meticulous mark-making. His drawings and paintings emphasize atmosphere and sensation rather than precise description. The accumulation of marks reflects the fragile, fragmented nature of memory itself.

For Yang, image-making is a contemplative process. By lingering with unresolved emotion, his work transforms ordinary scenes into intimate spaces for reflection, inviting a slower and more attentive way of seeing.