“Nini has become my keeper on a path of exploration”.
Personal stories in pastel painted scenarios
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 li...
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".
Bio
Benrei Huang (she/her) was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1959. She now lives and works in New York, USA.
At auction
In 2021, Benrei Huang's painting Why Shop for New Fashion When You Are Naturally Stylish (2018) sold for HK $1,512,000 – well above its original estimate of HK $400,000 – at Phillip's 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Auction, Hong Kong.
Education
Huang studied for her BFA in fine arts at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taiwan in 1982. She then received her MFA in Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1992.
