Yangzi Xu

Purple Evening on Wacker Dr., Oil Painting

2024

Artist Comments
Set during an evening on Wacker Drive, the artwork offers an atmospheric view of Chicago, featuring the iconic Tribune Tower and surrounding buildings. The streetlights and vehicle headlights provide warm, glowing contrasts to the cooler tones of the twilight sky. The painterly style imparts a textural and almost tangible quality to the piece.

About the Artist
Artist Yangzi Xu captures the beauty of seasonal changes in her expressionist cityscapes. Having spent most of her life in Chicago, she began viewing the city in a new light after finding inspiration from her previous watercolor teacher. Using fluid and rough strokes, along with a limited color palette, Yangzi creates dramatic and evocative scenes. "I try to capture the paradox of life in the city, where one can be in a crowd yet feel alone," Yangzi says. Her creative process involves managing a queue of ideas and reference photos, sketching with pencils to plan compositions and value designs, and working on multiple pieces simultaneously. In her well-organized spare bedroom studio, Yangzi listens to music as she paints, finding it a pleasant distraction that allows her to focus on the creative process without fixating on the result. In her free time, Yangzi enjoys reading, with biographies and memoirs currently being her favorite genres.

Words that describe this painting: Chicago, city, urban, evening, reflection, night, outdoor, facade, buildings, Wacker Drive, street, cars, vehicles, pedestrians, moody, road, architecture, impressionism, travel, oil painting, grey

Purple Evening on Wacker Dr.
Yangzi Xu
Oil painting on stretched canvas
Finished white edges
Ready to hang
One-of-a-kind
Signed on front
2024
16 in. h x 16 in. w x .87 in. d
1 lbs. 8 oz.