Tomie is simply a delicate and exquisite little creature, filled with tragic and idealistic emotions, tinged with paranoia, arrogance, and an exaggerated sense of awareness. She is a beautiful girl who is both delinquent, gentle, and shy, with a strong sense of responsibility, yet paradoxically unreliable. Faced with all this, Tomie will experience a complex range of emotions, fluctuating between fear, despair, and manipulation, while her actions shift unpredictably—sometimes destructive, sometimes marked by vulnerability.
Born in 1981 in Guangdong Province, Southeast China, Deng Yu graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (Bachelor of Arts in 2005; Master of Arts in 2008). Since 2005, her work has been showcased in numerous group exhibitions in Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as in Korea and the United States. Deng Yu’s artistic career reached a new milestone with her first solo exhibition at the Orange Gallery in Guangzhou, China, where a collection of her vibrant works, reflecting her imaginative and fantastical world, was presented.
Deng Yu is part of a generation of young Chinese artists born in the early 1980s, which Zhang Qing, deputy director of the Shanghai Art Museum and curator of the exhibition Infantization at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon in 2010, refers to as the “Gelatin Generation”.
Zhang Qing describes them as artists who “let their imaginations roam freely in worlds of glamour, kitsch, design, and showbiz, drawing inspiration from new scientific theories and futuristic fantasies. Their dazzling visions of the future are populated by alien, mythological, or manga cartoon characters. […] Their lives are like a bag of jellybeans—cold but malleable, seemingly transparent yet lacking a center to grasp.” Unlike their parents, this generation grew up in a consumer society defined by political stability and extraordinary economic growth. However, the apparent lightness and carefreeness of this generation, reminiscent of the enthusiasm of the Pop Art era, and their use of similar elements in their works—such as bright colors, references to youth culture, and derivatives of popular subculture—should not overshadow their deep engagement with issues like cultural democratization, environmental preservation, and women’s rights.
Deng Yu’s works embody a sense of freshness, with a deceptively naive and “cute” aesthetic that, upon closer inspection, proves to be deeply provocative. Her signature character, the “Tomie” avatar—a neon yellow cut-out silhouette of a little girl—appears in the midst of fantastical, phantasmagorical landscapes. Depending on the viewer’s perspective or the composition of the piece, this figure can be interpreted as an erect penis penetrating the heart of the work, or conversely, as a vagina from which the scene unfolds. Her landscapes, filled with vibrant depictions of marine or forest flora and fauna, are highly graphic and colorful. Both psychedelic and organic, they symbolize an eruption on the canvas’s surface—an expression of the repressed desires and despair lurking within those unable to voice their emotions. This resonance has earned Deng Yu a strong connection with the younger populations of China’s major cities.
