Exhibitions & fairs
DOUBLE VISION: YANGYANG PAN & SANDRINE KERN
Madelyn Jordon Fine Art is pleased to present DOUBLE VISION, an exhibition of new works by YANGYANG PAN and SANDRINE KERN, on view from May 17 – June 28, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, May 17, from 12–4 PM. This marks the first joint exhibition between the artists, and the public is welcome to attend.
Featuring a selection of new works by Pan and Kern, DOUBLE VISION presents a rich dialogue between two artists who channel the emotional resonance of nature through abstraction. Though their approaches differ—Pan’s bold, calligraphic strokes contrast with Kern’s soft, emotive layers—both artists share an intuitive, inward connection to nature as a source of meaning rather than a literal subject. Pan taps into emotional intensity through explosive brushwork and vivid color, while Kern conjures atmospheric water scenes through textured, dreamlike surfaces. Together, their paintings summon a meditative, sensory experience that dissolves the boundaries between abstraction and perception.
Pan’s vibrant, expressive works evoke the notion of nature as an extension of the self—an emotional terrain charged with movement and feeling. Her loose, dynamic brush strokes and rich color palette explore the tension between nature and abstraction, balancing control with spontaneity. While her motifs often stem from flowers and gardens, they transcend literal representation. For Pan, nature is not an object to be observed, but a portal into emotive freedom and painterly catharsis. Influenced by artists such as Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, and Philip Guston, she explores a wide emotional range in her work. Her distinctive approach to abstraction is rooted in a personal evolution—from rigorous training in traditional Chinese painting beginning at age six, to her eventual immersion in the aesthetics of Western abstraction. Her work pulses with a romantic sensibility—an urgent desire to express the ineffable through paint.
Born in 1976, Yangyang Pan studied at the Sichuan Fine Art Institute. Graduating with honors, Pan received her Bachelor of Arts in 1998 followed by a Masters of Fine Art in 2002. She remained as an instructor until 2006 when she relocated to Canada. Since 2006, Pan has exhibited internationally, including Canada, USA, Italy and China. She received the Ontario Arts Council, Visual Artists Creation Projects Grant in 2020 and was awarded the Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition assistant award both in 2010 and 2019. Her work is widely collected in numerous private and public institutions such as Government of Ontario Art Collection, Apple (USA), Royal Elite International Academy (Canada), The Rochester Museum of Fine Art (USA), The Sichuan Fine Art Institute (China) and retail giants including Holt Renfrew (Canada), Anthropologie (USA), Amour Vert (USA), Vdara Las Vegas, and Provide Commerce (USA).
Sandrine Kern’s paintings evoke a deep sense of memory and mood. Hovering between the real and the imagined, her work reflects a fascination with the ephemeral and the sublime—not to depict nature as it is, but to conjure how it feels in recollection or dream. In her latest series, Kern paints quiet, introspective scenes of ponds adorned with floating lily pads, where subtle distortions ripple through the surface and hint at the unseen depths below. However, what may first appear as a pond with water lilies gradually dissolves into abstract impressions, suggesting places not geographically located but emotionally conjured.
Kern’s distinctive process, rooted in a technique akin to encaustic, involves layering oil paint, oil stick, and cold wax to build lush, dimensional surfaces. These are then scraped, dissolved, and pared back, revealing traces of what once was. This additive and subtractive rhythm mirrors the way memory surfaces—partial, fragmented, and fleeting. Her muted palette and fluid brushwork guide the viewer through veils of color and texture. In these quiet, immersive spaces, Kern invites us to linger in a threshold between presence and absence, clarity and haze—where emotion becomes the primary terrain.
Sandrine Kern lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She was born in Paris, France where she received an MFA with Honors from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts. Kern exhibits nationally including at Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE, William Shearburn Gallery, St Louis, MO, Nikola Rukaj Gallery, Toronto, Canada and Gail Harvey Gallery, Santa Monica, CA., among others. Kern was elected for membership of the Foundation Taylor in Paris, France in June 2016. Her work is to be found in numerous private collections including The Mitchell Collection, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow.
