As one of the winners of the 2025 Art 8 French Young Artist Award, with the full support of Bausch&Lomb, Estee Yima came to the Beijing Art 8 residency in April this year to create. Living in a hutong, learning Chinese, strolling in the park, and watching Peking Opera, this Parisian lived the days of "old Beijing".
Est é e Yima was born in Paris in 2000. Graduated from the É cole Normale Sup é rieure in Paris, later worked at the National Opera in Paris, and continued her personal artistic creation. Due to her father's previous role as co director of a theater in Paris, Est é e Yima has been shuttling between the stage since childhood. I often play hide and seek with my brother in the audience, and we even play pranks to intentionally disturb the work of the lighting engineer. Occasionally, when we need a child role, I also step onto the stage to make a guest appearance. "In college, Estee Yima worked part-time as a lead in a small theater. Later, she interned at the Stage Art Department of the Paris National Opera and chose to work here after graduation. For me, the theater has always been a place full of security
At the Paris National Opera, Est é e Yima participated in the stage design and production of plays such as Don Juan, Romeo and Juliet, and Siegfried. The collaborative work style of multiple people is completely different from her feeling of creating alone in the studio. But Estee Yima also infused this observation into her paintings. In the silhouette of the curtain, she observed silence, interpreted restrained postures, and captured behind the scenes moments that the audience couldn't see.
Estee Yima, who loves stage art, first came into contact with Peking Opera when she watched the movie "Farewell My Concubine". Later, she also watched a live performance of Peking Opera "Orphan Zhao" at the Jimei National Asian Art Museum in Paris. That touching story, as well as the actors' captivating singing, beautiful costumes, and exquisite makeup - I was deeply moved by everything on stage! "Last October, Est é e Yima won the Art 8 France Award and finally had the opportunity to come to the Beijing residency. I have read a lot of materials related to Peking Opera and am looking forward to this trip
With the help of Art 8 and her Chinese teacher Fan Xuemei, Yashi Yima truly entered the world of Peking Opera. In early May, the National Peking Opera Theater staged the classic play "Da Bao Guo · Exploring the Imperial Mausoleum · Second Visit to the Palace" at the Mei Lanfang Grand Theater. Estee Yima not only watched the live performance, but also walked backstage to communicate with the actors, watch them put on makeup, and experience the working state behind the scenes of Peking Opera. The atmosphere is very familiar, but also very different, and this sense of familiarity is particularly wonderful. Here, she continues her perspective as a 'theater observer'.
At Est é e Yima's studio open day, three portrait paintings created by her were exhibited, all depicting the makeup of the actors in "Detective Chinatown 2". That was a special moment, when they were neither themselves in the real world nor fully immersed as characters in the play. In my opinion, there was a strong tension in their identity at that moment, as well as a huge sense of vulnerability. This extremely subtle feeling deeply attracted me. At the same time, the studio also displayed a large-scale work in progress, capturing the scene of four fully dressed actors waiting on the side screen, and viewers also took this opportunity to enter the creative scene of Est é e Yima.
As Christine Cayol, the founder of Art 8, said, "These portraits presented on a black background continue the tradition of Antoine da Messina and Vermeer's masterpieces, revealing a precious sense of presence while also containing a sense of waiting: something is about to happen - an event is about to unfold, an adventure is about to begin, a performance is about to begin." In Estee Yima's works, the viewer seems to follow her brush, following the characters in her pen, preparing to "enter the play" together.
Zhang Yandong, the flower faced actor who played Yang Shixiang in "Detective Chinatown 2", became one of the characters under the pen of Estee Yima. On the day of the open day, he and another national Peking Opera performer, Song Ruoxuan, were invited to attend the event. They performed several classic lines on site: Zhang Yandong sang selected passages from "The Case of Cutting off Beauty", Song Ruoxuan brought a section from "The Drunken Concubine", and the two also collaborated to present the classic Meipai opera "Farewell My Concubine". Even without costumes and makeup, their brilliant performances allowed both domestic and foreign guests to experience the beauty of Peking Opera on site.
