Benrei Huang

Benrei Huang reflects on life and emotions through paintings of her rabbit figure, Nini. Nini embodies Huang's thoughts on grief, love and existence. She portrays him looking fragile, with a neutral expression. Sometimes he plays the protagonist, at other times he’s a supporting role. Sometimes he’s a spotlit star on stage, other times he’s in love in the park, or swimming underwater in a dream. She combines her favourite motifs like flowers, umbrellas, and rolling landscapes with acrylics in pastel colours. This, combined with her use of soft shading and rounded outlines, give her images a light, soothing atmosphere.

For Huang, this unexpected visitor has brought her down an amazing road she had never thought she would go down. She created Nini in 2008 when she was an illustrator. As Huang’s work evolved into narrative paintings, Nini then took on a life of his own. His scenarios are inspired by Huang's observations and experiences within her immediate environment. This included the Covid pandemic in New York. Works like I’m all washed, soapy clean, so don’t blame me, (2020) show irony with warmth and humour. This was at a time when people were worried about catching the virus through touch. Huang's works and funny titles uplift and encourage – despite showing images of the difficulties of life. As she says, "Even if the world is heavy, your heart can be light".