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2020-now: Narrative
This is a long-term project with several individual series that combines unique visual art experimentation with technology, economic and financial market information to record mass sentiments.
A Moving Mountain: Dow Jones’ First Decade of the 21st Century
“A Moving Mountain: Dow Jones’ First Decade of the 21st Century”: 30 × 240 inches; ink, acrylic, mixed media, and
handwritten texts on canvas; begun in 2010 and still ongoing now
Exhibitions:
“A Moving Mountain” has been presented in three solo exhibitions between 2012 and 2026. The invitation for audiences to write their thoughts about the stock market and the artwork directly onto the canvas began with my solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh Art Gallery in 2012 and continued through my solo exhibition at the CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 2026. Fourteen years later, the work remains ongoing, continuously accumulating the thoughts and responses of its viewers.
Echoing the grandeur of a distant mountain range, the jagged contours of stock-market charts become the visual structure of this work, transforming the movements of the financial market into a landscape of the contemporary global economy. I capture these erratic movements through spontaneous splashes and washes of ink. Throughout history, civilizations have revered mountains as sacred places and the dwelling places of gods. In contemporary society, I see Wall Street as a kind of temple of the global economy.
Using Chinese brushes and ink on a Western canvas, I present a chronologically ordered visual record of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the first decade of the twenty-first century, from 2000 to 2009. The constantly changing movements of the market form a continuous mountain-like landscape, bringing together financial history and the visual language of traditional landscape painting. Mass participation is one of the defining characteristics of the stock market. To reflect this quality within the artwork itself, I invite viewers to write their thoughts about the stock market and the work directly onto the canvas. In this way, the painting incorporates the collective observations, experiences, and signatures of its viewers. More than 280 people have already contributed personal comments and signatures in 15 languages.
The painting is intentionally incomplete when it is exhibited. It remains open to further participation and is completed only when the available space has been filled with comments from viewers. Through this process, I bring together the artist, the observers, and the artwork, allowing people who are directly or indirectly connected to the stock market to become participants in the work and, ultimately, subjects within its larger theme. The participatory process introduces an element of chance and collective authorship into the painting. It also transforms the canvas into a record of human responses to the financial world, revealing how an economic system is experienced not only through numbers and markets but through individual hopes, fears, opinions, and memories. In this sense, the work extends beyond the representation of the stock market and becomes a reflection on the human and social complexities of globalization.
handwritten texts on canvas; begun in 2010 and still ongoing now
Exhibitions:
“A Moving Mountain” has been presented in three solo exhibitions between 2012 and 2026. The invitation for audiences to write their thoughts about the stock market and the artwork directly onto the canvas began with my solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh Art Gallery in 2012 and continued through my solo exhibition at the CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 2026. Fourteen years later, the work remains ongoing, continuously accumulating the thoughts and responses of its viewers.
Echoing the grandeur of a distant mountain range, the jagged contours of stock-market charts become the visual structure of this work, transforming the movements of the financial market into a landscape of the contemporary global economy. I capture these erratic movements through spontaneous splashes and washes of ink. Throughout history, civilizations have revered mountains as sacred places and the dwelling places of gods. In contemporary society, I see Wall Street as a kind of temple of the global economy.
Using Chinese brushes and ink on a Western canvas, I present a chronologically ordered visual record of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the first decade of the twenty-first century, from 2000 to 2009. The constantly changing movements of the market form a continuous mountain-like landscape, bringing together financial history and the visual language of traditional landscape painting. Mass participation is one of the defining characteristics of the stock market. To reflect this quality within the artwork itself, I invite viewers to write their thoughts about the stock market and the work directly onto the canvas. In this way, the painting incorporates the collective observations, experiences, and signatures of its viewers. More than 280 people have already contributed personal comments and signatures in 15 languages.
The painting is intentionally incomplete when it is exhibited. It remains open to further participation and is completed only when the available space has been filled with comments from viewers. Through this process, I bring together the artist, the observers, and the artwork, allowing people who are directly or indirectly connected to the stock market to become participants in the work and, ultimately, subjects within its larger theme. The participatory process introduces an element of chance and collective authorship into the painting. It also transforms the canvas into a record of human responses to the financial world, revealing how an economic system is experienced not only through numbers and markets but through individual hopes, fears, opinions, and memories. In this sense, the work extends beyond the representation of the stock market and becomes a reflection on the human and social complexities of globalization.
A Moving Mountain: Dow Jones’ First Decade of the 21st Century
“A Moving Mountain: Dow Jones’ First Decade of the 21st Century”: 30 × 240 inches; ink, acrylic, mixed media, and
handwritten texts on canvas; begun in 2010 and still ongoing now
Exhibitions:
“A Moving Mountain” has been presented in three solo exhibitions between 2012 and 2026. The invitation for audiences to write their thoughts about the stock market and the artwork directly onto the canvas began with my solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh Art Gallery in 2012 and continued through my solo exhibition at the CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 2026. Fourteen years later, the work remains ongoing, continuously accumulating the thoughts and responses of its viewers.
Echoing the grandeur of a distant mountain range, the jagged contours of stock-market charts become the visual structure of this work, transforming the movements of the financial market into a landscape of the contemporary global economy. I capture these erratic movements through spontaneous splashes and washes of ink. Throughout history, civilizations have revered mountains as sacred places and the dwelling places of gods. In contemporary society, I see Wall Street as a kind of temple of the global economy.
Using Chinese brushes and ink on a Western canvas, I present a chronologically ordered visual record of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the first decade of the twenty-first century, from 2000 to 2009. The constantly changing movements of the market form a continuous mountain-like landscape, bringing together financial history and the visual language of traditional landscape painting. Mass participation is one of the defining characteristics of the stock market. To reflect this quality within the artwork itself, I invite viewers to write their thoughts about the stock market and the work directly onto the canvas. In this way, the painting incorporates the collective observations, experiences, and signatures of its viewers. More than 280 people have already contributed personal comments and signatures in 15 languages.
The painting is intentionally incomplete when it is exhibited. It remains open to further participation and is completed only when the available space has been filled with comments from viewers. Through this process, I bring together the artist, the observers, and the artwork, allowing people who are directly or indirectly connected to the stock market to become participants in the work and, ultimately, subjects within its larger theme. The participatory process introduces an element of chance and collective authorship into the painting. It also transforms the canvas into a record of human responses to the financial world, revealing how an economic system is experienced not only through numbers and markets but through individual hopes, fears, opinions, and memories. In this sense, the work extends beyond the representation of the stock market and becomes a reflection on the human and social complexities of globalization.
handwritten texts on canvas; begun in 2010 and still ongoing now
Exhibitions:
“A Moving Mountain” has been presented in three solo exhibitions between 2012 and 2026. The invitation for audiences to write their thoughts about the stock market and the artwork directly onto the canvas began with my solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh Art Gallery in 2012 and continued through my solo exhibition at the CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 2026. Fourteen years later, the work remains ongoing, continuously accumulating the thoughts and responses of its viewers.
Echoing the grandeur of a distant mountain range, the jagged contours of stock-market charts become the visual structure of this work, transforming the movements of the financial market into a landscape of the contemporary global economy. I capture these erratic movements through spontaneous splashes and washes of ink. Throughout history, civilizations have revered mountains as sacred places and the dwelling places of gods. In contemporary society, I see Wall Street as a kind of temple of the global economy.
Using Chinese brushes and ink on a Western canvas, I present a chronologically ordered visual record of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the first decade of the twenty-first century, from 2000 to 2009. The constantly changing movements of the market form a continuous mountain-like landscape, bringing together financial history and the visual language of traditional landscape painting. Mass participation is one of the defining characteristics of the stock market. To reflect this quality within the artwork itself, I invite viewers to write their thoughts about the stock market and the work directly onto the canvas. In this way, the painting incorporates the collective observations, experiences, and signatures of its viewers. More than 280 people have already contributed personal comments and signatures in 15 languages.
The painting is intentionally incomplete when it is exhibited. It remains open to further participation and is completed only when the available space has been filled with comments from viewers. Through this process, I bring together the artist, the observers, and the artwork, allowing people who are directly or indirectly connected to the stock market to become participants in the work and, ultimately, subjects within its larger theme. The participatory process introduces an element of chance and collective authorship into the painting. It also transforms the canvas into a record of human responses to the financial world, revealing how an economic system is experienced not only through numbers and markets but through individual hopes, fears, opinions, and memories. In this sense, the work extends beyond the representation of the stock market and becomes a reflection on the human and social complexities of globalization.
A Moving Mountain: Dow Jones’ First Decade of the 21st Century
“A Moving Mountain: Dow Jones’ First Decade of the 21st Century”: 30 × 240 inches; ink, acrylic, mixed media, and
handwritten texts on canvas; begun in 2010 and still ongoing now
Details of Panel #7-#8
Exhibitions:
“A Moving Mountain” has been presented in three solo exhibitions between 2012 and 2026. The invitation for audiences to write their thoughts about the stock market and the artwork directly onto the canvas began with my solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh Art Gallery in 2012 and continued through my solo exhibition at the CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 2026. Fourteen years later, the work remains ongoing, continuously accumulating the thoughts and responses of its viewers.
Echoing the grandeur of a distant mountain range, the jagged contours of stock-market charts become the visual structure of this work, transforming the movements of the financial market into a landscape of the contemporary global economy. I capture these erratic movements through spontaneous splashes and washes of ink. Throughout history, civilizations have revered mountains as sacred places and the dwelling places of gods. In contemporary society, I see Wall Street as a kind of temple of the global economy.
Using Chinese brushes and ink on a Western canvas, I present a chronologically ordered visual record of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the first decade of the twenty-first century, from 2000 to 2009. The constantly changing movements of the market form a continuous mountain-like landscape, bringing together financial history and the visual language of traditional landscape painting. Mass participation is one of the defining characteristics of the stock market. To reflect this quality within the artwork itself, I invite viewers to write their thoughts about the stock market and the work directly onto the canvas. In this way, the painting incorporates the collective observations, experiences, and signatures of its viewers. More than 280 people have already contributed personal comments and signatures in 15 languages.
The painting is intentionally incomplete when it is exhibited. It remains open to further participation and is completed only when the available space has been filled with comments from viewers. Through this process, I bring together the artist, the observers, and the artwork, allowing people who are directly or indirectly connected to the stock market to become participants in the work and, ultimately, subjects within its larger theme. The participatory process introduces an element of chance and collective authorship into the painting. It also transforms the canvas into a record of human responses to the financial world, revealing how an economic system is experienced not only through numbers and markets but through individual hopes, fears, opinions, and memories. In this sense, the work extends beyond the representation of the stock market and becomes a reflection on the human and social complexities of globalization.
handwritten texts on canvas; begun in 2010 and still ongoing now
Details of Panel #7-#8
Exhibitions:
“A Moving Mountain” has been presented in three solo exhibitions between 2012 and 2026. The invitation for audiences to write their thoughts about the stock market and the artwork directly onto the canvas began with my solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh Art Gallery in 2012 and continued through my solo exhibition at the CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 2026. Fourteen years later, the work remains ongoing, continuously accumulating the thoughts and responses of its viewers.
Echoing the grandeur of a distant mountain range, the jagged contours of stock-market charts become the visual structure of this work, transforming the movements of the financial market into a landscape of the contemporary global economy. I capture these erratic movements through spontaneous splashes and washes of ink. Throughout history, civilizations have revered mountains as sacred places and the dwelling places of gods. In contemporary society, I see Wall Street as a kind of temple of the global economy.
Using Chinese brushes and ink on a Western canvas, I present a chronologically ordered visual record of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the first decade of the twenty-first century, from 2000 to 2009. The constantly changing movements of the market form a continuous mountain-like landscape, bringing together financial history and the visual language of traditional landscape painting. Mass participation is one of the defining characteristics of the stock market. To reflect this quality within the artwork itself, I invite viewers to write their thoughts about the stock market and the work directly onto the canvas. In this way, the painting incorporates the collective observations, experiences, and signatures of its viewers. More than 280 people have already contributed personal comments and signatures in 15 languages.
The painting is intentionally incomplete when it is exhibited. It remains open to further participation and is completed only when the available space has been filled with comments from viewers. Through this process, I bring together the artist, the observers, and the artwork, allowing people who are directly or indirectly connected to the stock market to become participants in the work and, ultimately, subjects within its larger theme. The participatory process introduces an element of chance and collective authorship into the painting. It also transforms the canvas into a record of human responses to the financial world, revealing how an economic system is experienced not only through numbers and markets but through individual hopes, fears, opinions, and memories. In this sense, the work extends beyond the representation of the stock market and becomes a reflection on the human and social complexities of globalization.
Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros
"Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009–10/24/2011”, 81 × 176 inches; ink, acrylic, and mixed media on paper and polyester; four panels, completed 2021.
“Memorandum #1” has been included in my two solo exhibitions, Market Forces and Cultural Identity: The Art of Dr. Gan Yu, May 9–July 1, 2026, CCACC Art Gallery, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Gan Yu’s solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, USA; and two group exhibitions, Modern Ink: Crossing Media, Blending Cultures, February 5–March 29, 2026, Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA, and The Doors of Perception: New Approaches to Realism, August 27–December 15, 2021, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
The Memorandum series consists of two large-scale mixed-media works of mine. These expansive works portray prominent figures in economics and finance, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, investor George Soros, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke—individuals who have exerted significant influence on financial markets and the global economy. Together, the two works serve as visual chronicles of the Wall Street stock market during the turbulent period of the global financial crisis and its recovery, from 2008 to 2011.
The Memorandum series exemplifies my practice of what I call “visual realism,” an approach that seeks to depict its subject matter with a high degree of fidelity to objective reality while simultaneously incorporating broader social and historical meaning. Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009– 10/24/2011 portrays major figures from the financial world who were directly or indirectly connected to the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis. Among them are policymakers whose decisions were closely associated with the economic conditions preceding the crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; key figures involved in managing the financial crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; and the internationally renowned investor and speculator George Soros.
I use my self-developed project "Trading System" as a fundamental visual element of the work. "Trading System" records twelve significant daily indicators of the U.S. stock market throughout a critical period of the subprime mortgage crisis, from December 29, 2008, through October 24, 2011, encompassing both the height of the crisis and the subsequent period of recovery.
I arranged these data chronologically according to date and according to the rises and falls of the stock market, generating hard-edged abstract geometric forms. These forms were printed onto thick, transparent polyester film, creating a series of autonomous abstract compositions.
In "Trading System", I monitored a group of indicators that were particularly sensitive to broader market fluctuations in order to observe and understand the rhythms of the U.S. equity market. I organized these indicators within a single spreadsheet and tracked their daily fluctuations, looking for patterns that might reveal the forces governing market movements.
As an artist, I am particularly sensitive to color. I used three colors—green, white, and yellow—to represent rising, stable, and falling prices, respectively. Over time, I observed that the sprawling numerical figures and clusters of color transformed my trading system into a continuous work of abstract art. Each cell became a precise record of market behavior.
From the perspective of abstraction, Trading System transforms financial data into a visual account of the pervasive role of the U.S. equity market in contemporary life. Its geometric structures emerge from the constantly changing arrangement of numbers and colors, allowing an objective record of market behavior to generate unpredictable visual relationships and configurations.
When asked whether I was influenced by other artists while developing my Wall Street Series, my answer was essentially no. However, I have acknowledged the influence of Piet Mondrian, particularly the hard-edged color-field aesthetics of Mondrian’s abstract paintings, in the development of "Trading System". My alternating blocks of yellow, white, and green, determined by market fluctuations, recall the simplicity of Mondrian's Composition C: Red, Yellow and Blue—not as a direct model, but as an artistic point of inspiration.
A second function of "Trading System" is to chronicle history. Like an electrocardiograph of the U.S. economy, the system registers investor behavior, sentiment, disposition, and the social, political, and economic conditions of the moment. These records connect otherwise disparate periods of social activity and preserve them as visual evidence of historical change.
Together, Trading System and the painted portraits form the foundation of the Memorandum series. The series establishes a specific historical time frame surrounding a major financial crisis and uses Wall Street trading data as its underlying visual environment. Within this data-driven framework, I introduce painted portraits of individuals associated with the crisis, transforming the works into a distinctive form of contemporary portraiture.
Memorandum #1 consists of four 81 × 40-inch vertical panels assembled into a single composition. The two outer panels incorporate printed sections of Trading System, while the two central panels feature hand-painted portraits of three significant figures. Executed on heavy watercolor paper with Chinese ink and Western acrylic, the work combines representational portraiture with financial data and numerical color structures interwoven throughout the figures. Market data appear in the subjects' clothing, across their faces, and even within their eyes, where the visual traces of Wall Street seem to flicker and resonate.
When the four panels are assembled into a unified work, these seemingly disparate elements—portraiture, abstraction, numerical data, and market color—become visually integrated. The resulting composition establishes a relationship between individual human agency and the larger financial system in which these figures operated.
This work reflects my idea of representing the U.S. stock market as a barometer of the global economy, an idea that emerged during the 2007– 2009 subprime mortgage crisis. Witnessing the extreme volatility and emotional intensity of the market, driven by forces such as greed and fear, I experienced it as a kind of enormous collective performance. To me, Wall Street became a powerful manifestation of economic globalization.
Gan Yu
“Memorandum #1” has been included in my two solo exhibitions, Market Forces and Cultural Identity: The Art of Dr. Gan Yu, May 9–July 1, 2026, CCACC Art Gallery, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Gan Yu’s solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, USA; and two group exhibitions, Modern Ink: Crossing Media, Blending Cultures, February 5–March 29, 2026, Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA, and The Doors of Perception: New Approaches to Realism, August 27–December 15, 2021, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
The Memorandum series consists of two large-scale mixed-media works of mine. These expansive works portray prominent figures in economics and finance, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, investor George Soros, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke—individuals who have exerted significant influence on financial markets and the global economy. Together, the two works serve as visual chronicles of the Wall Street stock market during the turbulent period of the global financial crisis and its recovery, from 2008 to 2011.
The Memorandum series exemplifies my practice of what I call “visual realism,” an approach that seeks to depict its subject matter with a high degree of fidelity to objective reality while simultaneously incorporating broader social and historical meaning. Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009– 10/24/2011 portrays major figures from the financial world who were directly or indirectly connected to the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis. Among them are policymakers whose decisions were closely associated with the economic conditions preceding the crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; key figures involved in managing the financial crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; and the internationally renowned investor and speculator George Soros.
I use my self-developed project "Trading System" as a fundamental visual element of the work. "Trading System" records twelve significant daily indicators of the U.S. stock market throughout a critical period of the subprime mortgage crisis, from December 29, 2008, through October 24, 2011, encompassing both the height of the crisis and the subsequent period of recovery.
I arranged these data chronologically according to date and according to the rises and falls of the stock market, generating hard-edged abstract geometric forms. These forms were printed onto thick, transparent polyester film, creating a series of autonomous abstract compositions.
In "Trading System", I monitored a group of indicators that were particularly sensitive to broader market fluctuations in order to observe and understand the rhythms of the U.S. equity market. I organized these indicators within a single spreadsheet and tracked their daily fluctuations, looking for patterns that might reveal the forces governing market movements.
As an artist, I am particularly sensitive to color. I used three colors—green, white, and yellow—to represent rising, stable, and falling prices, respectively. Over time, I observed that the sprawling numerical figures and clusters of color transformed my trading system into a continuous work of abstract art. Each cell became a precise record of market behavior.
From the perspective of abstraction, Trading System transforms financial data into a visual account of the pervasive role of the U.S. equity market in contemporary life. Its geometric structures emerge from the constantly changing arrangement of numbers and colors, allowing an objective record of market behavior to generate unpredictable visual relationships and configurations.
When asked whether I was influenced by other artists while developing my Wall Street Series, my answer was essentially no. However, I have acknowledged the influence of Piet Mondrian, particularly the hard-edged color-field aesthetics of Mondrian’s abstract paintings, in the development of "Trading System". My alternating blocks of yellow, white, and green, determined by market fluctuations, recall the simplicity of Mondrian's Composition C: Red, Yellow and Blue—not as a direct model, but as an artistic point of inspiration.
A second function of "Trading System" is to chronicle history. Like an electrocardiograph of the U.S. economy, the system registers investor behavior, sentiment, disposition, and the social, political, and economic conditions of the moment. These records connect otherwise disparate periods of social activity and preserve them as visual evidence of historical change.
Together, Trading System and the painted portraits form the foundation of the Memorandum series. The series establishes a specific historical time frame surrounding a major financial crisis and uses Wall Street trading data as its underlying visual environment. Within this data-driven framework, I introduce painted portraits of individuals associated with the crisis, transforming the works into a distinctive form of contemporary portraiture.
Memorandum #1 consists of four 81 × 40-inch vertical panels assembled into a single composition. The two outer panels incorporate printed sections of Trading System, while the two central panels feature hand-painted portraits of three significant figures. Executed on heavy watercolor paper with Chinese ink and Western acrylic, the work combines representational portraiture with financial data and numerical color structures interwoven throughout the figures. Market data appear in the subjects' clothing, across their faces, and even within their eyes, where the visual traces of Wall Street seem to flicker and resonate.
When the four panels are assembled into a unified work, these seemingly disparate elements—portraiture, abstraction, numerical data, and market color—become visually integrated. The resulting composition establishes a relationship between individual human agency and the larger financial system in which these figures operated.
This work reflects my idea of representing the U.S. stock market as a barometer of the global economy, an idea that emerged during the 2007– 2009 subprime mortgage crisis. Witnessing the extreme volatility and emotional intensity of the market, driven by forces such as greed and fear, I experienced it as a kind of enormous collective performance. To me, Wall Street became a powerful manifestation of economic globalization.
Gan Yu
Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros
“Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009–10/24/2011”, 81 × 176 inches; ink, acrylic, and mixed media on paper and polyester; four panels, completed 2021.
“Memorandum #1” has been included in my two solo exhibitions, Market Forces and Cultural Identity: The Art of Dr. Gan Yu, May 9–July 1, 2026, CCACC Art Gallery, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Gan Yu’s solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, USA; and two group exhibitions, Modern Ink: Crossing Media, Blending Cultures, February 5–March 29, 2026, Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA, and The Doors of Perception: New Approaches to Realism, August 27–December 15, 2021, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
The Memorandum series consists of two large-scale mixed-media works of mine. These expansive works portray prominent figures in economics and finance, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, investor George Soros, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke—individuals who have exerted significant influence on financial markets and the global economy. Together, the two works serve as visual chronicles of the Wall Street stock market during the turbulent period of the global financial crisis and its recovery, from 2008 to 2011.
The Memorandum series exemplifies my practice of what I call “visual realism,” an approach that seeks to depict its subject matter with a high degree of fidelity to objective reality while simultaneously incorporating broader social and historical meaning. Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009– 10/24/2011 portrays major figures from the financial world who were directly or indirectly connected to the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis. Among them are policymakers whose decisions were closely associated with the economic conditions preceding the crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; key figures involved in managing the financial crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; and the internationally renowned investor and speculator George Soros.
I use my self-developed project "Trading System" as a fundamental visual element of the work. "Trading System" records twelve significant daily indicators of the U.S. stock market throughout a critical period of the subprime mortgage crisis, from December 29, 2008, through October 24, 2011, encompassing both the height of the crisis and the subsequent period of recovery.
I arranged these data chronologically according to date and according to the rises and falls of the stock market, generating hard-edged abstract geometric forms. These forms were printed onto thick, transparent polyester film, creating a series of autonomous abstract compositions.
In "Trading System", I monitored a group of indicators that were particularly sensitive to broader market fluctuations in order to observe and understand the rhythms of the U.S. equity market. I organized these indicators within a single spreadsheet and tracked their daily fluctuations, looking for patterns that might reveal the forces governing market movements.
As an artist, I am particularly sensitive to color. I used three colors—green, white, and yellow—to represent rising, stable, and falling prices, respectively. Over time, I observed that the sprawling numerical figures and clusters of color transformed my trading system into a continuous work of abstract art. Each cell became a precise record of market behavior.
From the perspective of abstraction, Trading System transforms financial data into a visual account of the pervasive role of the U.S. equity market in contemporary life. Its geometric structures emerge from the constantly changing arrangement of numbers and colors, allowing an objective record of market behavior to generate unpredictable visual relationships and configurations.
When asked whether I was influenced by other artists while developing my Wall Street Series, my answer was essentially no. However, I have acknowledged the influence of Piet Mondrian, particularly the hard-edged color-field aesthetics of Mondrian’s abstract paintings, in the development of "Trading System". My alternating blocks of yellow, white, and green, determined by market fluctuations, recall the simplicity of Mondrian's Composition C: Red, Yellow and Blue—not as a direct model, but as an artistic point of inspiration.
A second function of "Trading System" is to chronicle history. Like an electrocardiograph of the U.S. economy, the system registers investor behavior, sentiment, disposition, and the social, political, and economic conditions of the moment. These records connect otherwise disparate periods of social activity and preserve them as visual evidence of historical change.
Together, Trading System and the painted portraits form the foundation of the Memorandum series. The series establishes a specific historical time frame surrounding a major financial crisis and uses Wall Street trading data as its underlying visual environment. Within this data-driven framework, I introduce painted portraits of individuals associated with the crisis, transforming the works into a distinctive form of contemporary portraiture.
Memorandum #1 consists of four 81 × 40-inch vertical panels assembled into a single composition. The two outer panels incorporate printed sections of Trading System, while the two central panels feature hand-painted portraits of three significant figures. Executed on heavy watercolor paper with Chinese ink and Western acrylic, the work combines representational portraiture with financial data and numerical color structures interwoven throughout the figures. Market data appear in the subjects' clothing, across their faces, and even within their eyes, where the visual traces of Wall Street seem to flicker and resonate.
When the four panels are assembled into a unified work, these seemingly disparate elements—portraiture, abstraction, numerical data, and market color—become visually integrated. The resulting composition establishes a relationship between individual human agency and the larger financial system in which these figures operated.
This work reflects my idea of representing the U.S. stock market as a barometer of the global economy, an idea that emerged during the 2007– 2009 subprime mortgage crisis. Witnessing the extreme volatility and emotional intensity of the market, driven by forces such as greed and fear, I experienced it as a kind of enormous collective performance. To me, Wall Street became a powerful manifestation of economic globalization.
Gan Yu
“Memorandum #1” has been included in my two solo exhibitions, Market Forces and Cultural Identity: The Art of Dr. Gan Yu, May 9–July 1, 2026, CCACC Art Gallery, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Gan Yu’s solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, USA; and two group exhibitions, Modern Ink: Crossing Media, Blending Cultures, February 5–March 29, 2026, Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA, and The Doors of Perception: New Approaches to Realism, August 27–December 15, 2021, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
The Memorandum series consists of two large-scale mixed-media works of mine. These expansive works portray prominent figures in economics and finance, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, investor George Soros, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke—individuals who have exerted significant influence on financial markets and the global economy. Together, the two works serve as visual chronicles of the Wall Street stock market during the turbulent period of the global financial crisis and its recovery, from 2008 to 2011.
The Memorandum series exemplifies my practice of what I call “visual realism,” an approach that seeks to depict its subject matter with a high degree of fidelity to objective reality while simultaneously incorporating broader social and historical meaning. Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009– 10/24/2011 portrays major figures from the financial world who were directly or indirectly connected to the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis. Among them are policymakers whose decisions were closely associated with the economic conditions preceding the crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; key figures involved in managing the financial crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; and the internationally renowned investor and speculator George Soros.
I use my self-developed project "Trading System" as a fundamental visual element of the work. "Trading System" records twelve significant daily indicators of the U.S. stock market throughout a critical period of the subprime mortgage crisis, from December 29, 2008, through October 24, 2011, encompassing both the height of the crisis and the subsequent period of recovery.
I arranged these data chronologically according to date and according to the rises and falls of the stock market, generating hard-edged abstract geometric forms. These forms were printed onto thick, transparent polyester film, creating a series of autonomous abstract compositions.
In "Trading System", I monitored a group of indicators that were particularly sensitive to broader market fluctuations in order to observe and understand the rhythms of the U.S. equity market. I organized these indicators within a single spreadsheet and tracked their daily fluctuations, looking for patterns that might reveal the forces governing market movements.
As an artist, I am particularly sensitive to color. I used three colors—green, white, and yellow—to represent rising, stable, and falling prices, respectively. Over time, I observed that the sprawling numerical figures and clusters of color transformed my trading system into a continuous work of abstract art. Each cell became a precise record of market behavior.
From the perspective of abstraction, Trading System transforms financial data into a visual account of the pervasive role of the U.S. equity market in contemporary life. Its geometric structures emerge from the constantly changing arrangement of numbers and colors, allowing an objective record of market behavior to generate unpredictable visual relationships and configurations.
When asked whether I was influenced by other artists while developing my Wall Street Series, my answer was essentially no. However, I have acknowledged the influence of Piet Mondrian, particularly the hard-edged color-field aesthetics of Mondrian’s abstract paintings, in the development of "Trading System". My alternating blocks of yellow, white, and green, determined by market fluctuations, recall the simplicity of Mondrian's Composition C: Red, Yellow and Blue—not as a direct model, but as an artistic point of inspiration.
A second function of "Trading System" is to chronicle history. Like an electrocardiograph of the U.S. economy, the system registers investor behavior, sentiment, disposition, and the social, political, and economic conditions of the moment. These records connect otherwise disparate periods of social activity and preserve them as visual evidence of historical change.
Together, Trading System and the painted portraits form the foundation of the Memorandum series. The series establishes a specific historical time frame surrounding a major financial crisis and uses Wall Street trading data as its underlying visual environment. Within this data-driven framework, I introduce painted portraits of individuals associated with the crisis, transforming the works into a distinctive form of contemporary portraiture.
Memorandum #1 consists of four 81 × 40-inch vertical panels assembled into a single composition. The two outer panels incorporate printed sections of Trading System, while the two central panels feature hand-painted portraits of three significant figures. Executed on heavy watercolor paper with Chinese ink and Western acrylic, the work combines representational portraiture with financial data and numerical color structures interwoven throughout the figures. Market data appear in the subjects' clothing, across their faces, and even within their eyes, where the visual traces of Wall Street seem to flicker and resonate.
When the four panels are assembled into a unified work, these seemingly disparate elements—portraiture, abstraction, numerical data, and market color—become visually integrated. The resulting composition establishes a relationship between individual human agency and the larger financial system in which these figures operated.
This work reflects my idea of representing the U.S. stock market as a barometer of the global economy, an idea that emerged during the 2007– 2009 subprime mortgage crisis. Witnessing the extreme volatility and emotional intensity of the market, driven by forces such as greed and fear, I experienced it as a kind of enormous collective performance. To me, Wall Street became a powerful manifestation of economic globalization.
Gan Yu
Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros
"Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009–10/24/2011”, 81 × 176 inches; ink, acrylic, and mixed media on paper and polyester; four panels, completed 2021.
“Memorandum #1” has been included in my two solo exhibitions, Market Forces and Cultural Identity: The Art of Dr. Gan Yu, May 9–July 1, 2026, CCACC Art Gallery, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Gan Yu’s solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, USA; and two group exhibitions, Modern Ink: Crossing Media, Blending Cultures, February 5–March 29, 2026, Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA, and The Doors of Perception: New Approaches to Realism, August 27–December 15, 2021, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
The Memorandum series consists of two large-scale mixed-media works of mine. These expansive works portray prominent figures in economics and finance, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, investor George Soros, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke—individuals who have exerted significant influence on financial markets and the global economy. Together, the two works serve as visual chronicles of the Wall Street stock market during the turbulent period of the global financial crisis and its recovery, from 2008 to 2011.
The Memorandum series exemplifies my practice of what I call “visual realism,” an approach that seeks to depict its subject matter with a high degree of fidelity to objective reality while simultaneously incorporating broader social and historical meaning. Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009– 10/24/2011 portrays major figures from the financial world who were directly or indirectly connected to the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis. Among them are policymakers whose decisions were closely associated with the economic conditions preceding the crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; key figures involved in managing the financial crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; and the internationally renowned investor and speculator George Soros.
I use my self-developed project "Trading System" as a fundamental visual element of the work. "Trading System" records twelve significant daily indicators of the U.S. stock market throughout a critical period of the subprime mortgage crisis, from December 29, 2008, through October 24, 2011, encompassing both the height of the crisis and the subsequent period of recovery.
I arranged these data chronologically according to date and according to the rises and falls of the stock market, generating hard-edged abstract geometric forms. These forms were printed onto thick, transparent polyester film, creating a series of autonomous abstract compositions.
In "Trading System", I monitored a group of indicators that were particularly sensitive to broader market fluctuations in order to observe and understand the rhythms of the U.S. equity market. I organized these indicators within a single spreadsheet and tracked their daily fluctuations, looking for patterns that might reveal the forces governing market movements.
As an artist, I am particularly sensitive to color. I used three colors—green, white, and yellow—to represent rising, stable, and falling prices, respectively. Over time, I observed that the sprawling numerical figures and clusters of color transformed my trading system into a continuous work of abstract art. Each cell became a precise record of market behavior.
From the perspective of abstraction, Trading System transforms financial data into a visual account of the pervasive role of the U.S. equity market in contemporary life. Its geometric structures emerge from the constantly changing arrangement of numbers and colors, allowing an objective record of market behavior to generate unpredictable visual relationships and configurations.
When asked whether I was influenced by other artists while developing my Wall Street Series, my answer was essentially no. However, I have acknowledged the influence of Piet Mondrian, particularly the hard-edged color-field aesthetics of Mondrian’s abstract paintings, in the development of "Trading System". My alternating blocks of yellow, white, and green, determined by market fluctuations, recall the simplicity of Mondrian's Composition C: Red, Yellow and Blue—not as a direct model, but as an artistic point of inspiration.
A second function of "Trading System" is to chronicle history. Like an electrocardiograph of the U.S. economy, the system registers investor behavior, sentiment, disposition, and the social, political, and economic conditions of the moment. These records connect otherwise disparate periods of social activity and preserve them as visual evidence of historical change.
Together, Trading System and the painted portraits form the foundation of the Memorandum series. The series establishes a specific historical time frame surrounding a major financial crisis and uses Wall Street trading data as its underlying visual environment. Within this data-driven framework, I introduce painted portraits of individuals associated with the crisis, transforming the works into a distinctive form of contemporary portraiture.
Memorandum #1 consists of four 81 × 40-inch vertical panels assembled into a single composition. The two outer panels incorporate printed sections of Trading System, while the two central panels feature hand-painted portraits of three significant figures. Executed on heavy watercolor paper with Chinese ink and Western acrylic, the work combines representational portraiture with financial data and numerical color structures interwoven throughout the figures. Market data appear in the subjects' clothing, across their faces, and even within their eyes, where the visual traces of Wall Street seem to flicker and resonate.
When the four panels are assembled into a unified work, these seemingly disparate elements—portraiture, abstraction, numerical data, and market color—become visually integrated. The resulting composition establishes a relationship between individual human agency and the larger financial system in which these figures operated.
This work reflects my idea of representing the U.S. stock market as a barometer of the global economy, an idea that emerged during the 2007– 2009 subprime mortgage crisis. Witnessing the extreme volatility and emotional intensity of the market, driven by forces such as greed and fear, I experienced it as a kind of enormous collective performance. To me, Wall Street became a powerful manifestation of economic globalization.
Gan Yu
“Memorandum #1” has been included in my two solo exhibitions, Market Forces and Cultural Identity: The Art of Dr. Gan Yu, May 9–July 1, 2026, CCACC Art Gallery, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Gan Yu’s solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, USA; and two group exhibitions, Modern Ink: Crossing Media, Blending Cultures, February 5–March 29, 2026, Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA, and The Doors of Perception: New Approaches to Realism, August 27–December 15, 2021, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
The Memorandum series consists of two large-scale mixed-media works of mine. These expansive works portray prominent figures in economics and finance, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, investor George Soros, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke—individuals who have exerted significant influence on financial markets and the global economy. Together, the two works serve as visual chronicles of the Wall Street stock market during the turbulent period of the global financial crisis and its recovery, from 2008 to 2011.
The Memorandum series exemplifies my practice of what I call “visual realism,” an approach that seeks to depict its subject matter with a high degree of fidelity to objective reality while simultaneously incorporating broader social and historical meaning. Memorandum #1—Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and George Soros, 8/17/2009– 10/24/2011 portrays major figures from the financial world who were directly or indirectly connected to the global financial crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis. Among them are policymakers whose decisions were closely associated with the economic conditions preceding the crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; key figures involved in managing the financial crisis, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; and the internationally renowned investor and speculator George Soros.
I use my self-developed project "Trading System" as a fundamental visual element of the work. "Trading System" records twelve significant daily indicators of the U.S. stock market throughout a critical period of the subprime mortgage crisis, from December 29, 2008, through October 24, 2011, encompassing both the height of the crisis and the subsequent period of recovery.
I arranged these data chronologically according to date and according to the rises and falls of the stock market, generating hard-edged abstract geometric forms. These forms were printed onto thick, transparent polyester film, creating a series of autonomous abstract compositions.
In "Trading System", I monitored a group of indicators that were particularly sensitive to broader market fluctuations in order to observe and understand the rhythms of the U.S. equity market. I organized these indicators within a single spreadsheet and tracked their daily fluctuations, looking for patterns that might reveal the forces governing market movements.
As an artist, I am particularly sensitive to color. I used three colors—green, white, and yellow—to represent rising, stable, and falling prices, respectively. Over time, I observed that the sprawling numerical figures and clusters of color transformed my trading system into a continuous work of abstract art. Each cell became a precise record of market behavior.
From the perspective of abstraction, Trading System transforms financial data into a visual account of the pervasive role of the U.S. equity market in contemporary life. Its geometric structures emerge from the constantly changing arrangement of numbers and colors, allowing an objective record of market behavior to generate unpredictable visual relationships and configurations.
When asked whether I was influenced by other artists while developing my Wall Street Series, my answer was essentially no. However, I have acknowledged the influence of Piet Mondrian, particularly the hard-edged color-field aesthetics of Mondrian’s abstract paintings, in the development of "Trading System". My alternating blocks of yellow, white, and green, determined by market fluctuations, recall the simplicity of Mondrian's Composition C: Red, Yellow and Blue—not as a direct model, but as an artistic point of inspiration.
A second function of "Trading System" is to chronicle history. Like an electrocardiograph of the U.S. economy, the system registers investor behavior, sentiment, disposition, and the social, political, and economic conditions of the moment. These records connect otherwise disparate periods of social activity and preserve them as visual evidence of historical change.
Together, Trading System and the painted portraits form the foundation of the Memorandum series. The series establishes a specific historical time frame surrounding a major financial crisis and uses Wall Street trading data as its underlying visual environment. Within this data-driven framework, I introduce painted portraits of individuals associated with the crisis, transforming the works into a distinctive form of contemporary portraiture.
Memorandum #1 consists of four 81 × 40-inch vertical panels assembled into a single composition. The two outer panels incorporate printed sections of Trading System, while the two central panels feature hand-painted portraits of three significant figures. Executed on heavy watercolor paper with Chinese ink and Western acrylic, the work combines representational portraiture with financial data and numerical color structures interwoven throughout the figures. Market data appear in the subjects' clothing, across their faces, and even within their eyes, where the visual traces of Wall Street seem to flicker and resonate.
When the four panels are assembled into a unified work, these seemingly disparate elements—portraiture, abstraction, numerical data, and market color—become visually integrated. The resulting composition establishes a relationship between individual human agency and the larger financial system in which these figures operated.
This work reflects my idea of representing the U.S. stock market as a barometer of the global economy, an idea that emerged during the 2007– 2009 subprime mortgage crisis. Witnessing the extreme volatility and emotional intensity of the market, driven by forces such as greed and fear, I experienced it as a kind of enormous collective performance. To me, Wall Street became a powerful manifestation of economic globalization.
Gan Yu
Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros at KuBe Art Center, Beacon, NY
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros”, 81 × 166 inches; ink, acrylic, and mixed media on paper and polyester, 2021.
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros” has been included in my solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA; and the group exhibition Contemporary Portraiture: Artist as Subject, October 23, 2021–January 30, 2022, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
Soros’s image appears immersed in Wall Street trading figures and in the shifting yellow, green, and white geometric fields generated by fluctuations in market data. The resulting visual relationship suggests a resonance between the financial figure and the market itself, placing the individual within the larger system of financial forces that surrounds him.
The portraits of George Soros are executed on heavy watercolor paper using Chinese ink and Western acrylic, applied in relatively flat areas of color to create an effect reminiscent of a simplified woodcut portrait. The figure is therefore not simply placed against a background; instead, it appears to emerge from the visual atmosphere of Wall Street itself. The combination of Chinese ink and Western acrylic also reflects the international character of financial markets and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy. The work brings together different artistic traditions in the same way that contemporary financial systems bring together different nations, cultures, and economic forces.
The Memorandum series combines realistic representations of individuals with abstract data from the U.S. stock market, portraying influential figures from Wall Street and the broader financial world. These include Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and George Soros, as well as figures I plan to incorporate into the series, including Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, John Bogle, Jesse Livermore, and Sam Bankman. Whether their impact has been positive or negative, these individuals have played significant roles in the development of modern finance and economics. Their lives, decisions, and actions are inseparable from the social and human experience of contemporary society and therefore form part of the larger history of modern civilization.
At a deeper level, my portraiture explores two enduring human struggles that have shaped history across centuries: the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. By placing portraits of influential financial figures within the visual structures of market data, the Memorandum series examines the human beings behind the systems that shape contemporary economic life.
As an artist and scholar, I see the intersection of art, technology, and economics as an important dimension of contemporary culture. In today's increasingly AI-driven digital age,
technological acceleration and rapidly changing ways of life are creating new political, economic, social, and cultural challenges. My Wall Street Series seeks to examine these transformations through a visual language that brings together observation, data, painting, portraiture, and traditional and contemporary artistic practices. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I seek to develop an artistic voice that places seemingly separate fields into dialogue and considers how art can respond to the changing conditions of modern civilization.
Gan Yu
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros” has been included in my solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA; and the group exhibition Contemporary Portraiture: Artist as Subject, October 23, 2021–January 30, 2022, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
Soros’s image appears immersed in Wall Street trading figures and in the shifting yellow, green, and white geometric fields generated by fluctuations in market data. The resulting visual relationship suggests a resonance between the financial figure and the market itself, placing the individual within the larger system of financial forces that surrounds him.
The portraits of George Soros are executed on heavy watercolor paper using Chinese ink and Western acrylic, applied in relatively flat areas of color to create an effect reminiscent of a simplified woodcut portrait. The figure is therefore not simply placed against a background; instead, it appears to emerge from the visual atmosphere of Wall Street itself. The combination of Chinese ink and Western acrylic also reflects the international character of financial markets and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy. The work brings together different artistic traditions in the same way that contemporary financial systems bring together different nations, cultures, and economic forces.
The Memorandum series combines realistic representations of individuals with abstract data from the U.S. stock market, portraying influential figures from Wall Street and the broader financial world. These include Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and George Soros, as well as figures I plan to incorporate into the series, including Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, John Bogle, Jesse Livermore, and Sam Bankman. Whether their impact has been positive or negative, these individuals have played significant roles in the development of modern finance and economics. Their lives, decisions, and actions are inseparable from the social and human experience of contemporary society and therefore form part of the larger history of modern civilization.
At a deeper level, my portraiture explores two enduring human struggles that have shaped history across centuries: the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. By placing portraits of influential financial figures within the visual structures of market data, the Memorandum series examines the human beings behind the systems that shape contemporary economic life.
As an artist and scholar, I see the intersection of art, technology, and economics as an important dimension of contemporary culture. In today's increasingly AI-driven digital age,
technological acceleration and rapidly changing ways of life are creating new political, economic, social, and cultural challenges. My Wall Street Series seeks to examine these transformations through a visual language that brings together observation, data, painting, portraiture, and traditional and contemporary artistic practices. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I seek to develop an artistic voice that places seemingly separate fields into dialogue and considers how art can respond to the changing conditions of modern civilization.
Gan Yu
Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros, 81 × 166 inches; ink and mixed-media
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros”, 81 × 166 inches; ink, acrylic, and mixed media on paper and polyester, 2021.
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros” has been included in my solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA; and the group exhibition Contemporary Portraiture: Artist as Subject, October 23, 2021–January 30, 2022, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
Soros’s image appears immersed in Wall Street trading figures and in the shifting yellow, green, and white geometric fields generated by fluctuations in market data. The resulting visual relationship suggests a resonance between the financial figure and the market itself, placing the individual within the larger system of financial forces that surrounds him.
The portraits of George Soros are executed on heavy watercolor paper using Chinese ink and Western acrylic, applied in relatively flat areas of color to create an effect reminiscent of a simplified woodcut portrait. The figure is therefore not simply placed against a background; instead, it appears to emerge from the visual atmosphere of Wall Street itself. The combination of Chinese ink and Western acrylic also reflects the international character of financial markets and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy. The work brings together different artistic traditions in the same way that contemporary financial systems bring together different nations, cultures, and economic forces.
The Memorandum series combines realistic representations of individuals with abstract data from the U.S. stock market, portraying influential figures from Wall Street and the broader financial world. These include Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and George Soros, as well as figures I plan to incorporate into the series, including Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, John Bogle, Jesse Livermore, and Sam Bankman. Whether their impact has been positive or negative, these individuals have played significant roles in the development of modern finance and economics. Their lives, decisions, and actions are inseparable from the social and human experience of contemporary society and therefore form part of the larger history of modern civilization.
At a deeper level, my portraiture explores two enduring human struggles that have shaped history across centuries: the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. By placing portraits of influential financial figures within the visual structures of market data, the Memorandum series examines the human beings behind the systems that shape contemporary economic life.
As an artist and scholar, I see the intersection of art, technology, and economics as an important dimension of contemporary culture. In today's increasingly AI-driven digital age,
technological acceleration and rapidly changing ways of life are creating new political, economic, social, and cultural challenges. My Wall Street Series seeks to examine these transformations through a visual language that brings together observation, data, painting, portraiture, and traditional and contemporary artistic practices. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I seek to develop an artistic voice that places seemingly separate fields into dialogue and considers how art can respond to the changing conditions of modern civilization.
Gan Yu
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros” has been included in my solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA; and the group exhibition Contemporary Portraiture: Artist as Subject, October 23, 2021–January 30, 2022, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
Soros’s image appears immersed in Wall Street trading figures and in the shifting yellow, green, and white geometric fields generated by fluctuations in market data. The resulting visual relationship suggests a resonance between the financial figure and the market itself, placing the individual within the larger system of financial forces that surrounds him.
The portraits of George Soros are executed on heavy watercolor paper using Chinese ink and Western acrylic, applied in relatively flat areas of color to create an effect reminiscent of a simplified woodcut portrait. The figure is therefore not simply placed against a background; instead, it appears to emerge from the visual atmosphere of Wall Street itself. The combination of Chinese ink and Western acrylic also reflects the international character of financial markets and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy. The work brings together different artistic traditions in the same way that contemporary financial systems bring together different nations, cultures, and economic forces.
The Memorandum series combines realistic representations of individuals with abstract data from the U.S. stock market, portraying influential figures from Wall Street and the broader financial world. These include Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and George Soros, as well as figures I plan to incorporate into the series, including Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, John Bogle, Jesse Livermore, and Sam Bankman. Whether their impact has been positive or negative, these individuals have played significant roles in the development of modern finance and economics. Their lives, decisions, and actions are inseparable from the social and human experience of contemporary society and therefore form part of the larger history of modern civilization.
At a deeper level, my portraiture explores two enduring human struggles that have shaped history across centuries: the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. By placing portraits of influential financial figures within the visual structures of market data, the Memorandum series examines the human beings behind the systems that shape contemporary economic life.
As an artist and scholar, I see the intersection of art, technology, and economics as an important dimension of contemporary culture. In today's increasingly AI-driven digital age,
technological acceleration and rapidly changing ways of life are creating new political, economic, social, and cultural challenges. My Wall Street Series seeks to examine these transformations through a visual language that brings together observation, data, painting, portraiture, and traditional and contemporary artistic practices. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I seek to develop an artistic voice that places seemingly separate fields into dialogue and considers how art can respond to the changing conditions of modern civilization.
Gan Yu
Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros at Gettysburg College Art Gallery
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros”, 81 × 166 inches; ink, acrylic, and mixed media on paper and polyester, 2021.
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros” has been included in my solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA; and the group exhibition Contemporary Portraiture: Artist as Subject, October 23, 2021–January 30, 2022, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
Soros’s image appears immersed in Wall Street trading figures and in the shifting yellow, green, and white geometric fields generated by fluctuations in market data. The resulting visual relationship suggests a resonance between the financial figure and the market itself, placing the individual within the larger system of financial forces that surrounds him.
The portraits of George Soros are executed on heavy watercolor paper using Chinese ink and Western acrylic, applied in relatively flat areas of color to create an effect reminiscent of a simplified woodcut portrait. The figure is therefore not simply placed against a background; instead, it appears to emerge from the visual atmosphere of Wall Street itself. The combination of Chinese ink and Western acrylic also reflects the international character of financial markets and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy. The work brings together different artistic traditions in the same way that contemporary financial systems bring together different nations, cultures, and economic forces.
The Memorandum series combines realistic representations of individuals with abstract data from the U.S. stock market, portraying influential figures from Wall Street and the broader financial world. These include Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and George Soros, as well as figures I plan to incorporate into the series, including Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, John Bogle, Jesse Livermore, and Sam Bankman. Whether their impact has been positive or negative, these individuals have played significant roles in the development of modern finance and economics. Their lives, decisions, and actions are inseparable from the social and human experience of contemporary society and therefore form part of the larger history of modern civilization.
At a deeper level, my portraiture explores two enduring human struggles that have shaped history across centuries: the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. By placing portraits of influential financial figures within the visual structures of market data, the Memorandum series examines the human beings behind the systems that shape contemporary economic life.
As an artist and scholar, I see the intersection of art, technology, and economics as an important dimension of contemporary culture. In today's increasingly AI-driven digital age,
technological acceleration and rapidly changing ways of life are creating new political, economic, social, and cultural challenges. My Wall Street Series seeks to examine these transformations through a visual language that brings together observation, data, painting, portraiture, and traditional and contemporary artistic practices. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I seek to develop an artistic voice that places seemingly separate fields into dialogue and considers how art can respond to the changing conditions of modern civilization.
Gan Yu
“Memorandum #2—Double Images of George Soros” has been included in my solo exhibition Footprints Across the Ocean: The Art of Gan Yu, September 3–December 6, 2025, Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA; and the group exhibition Contemporary Portraiture: Artist as Subject, October 23, 2021–January 30, 2022, Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Beacon, New York, USA.
Soros’s image appears immersed in Wall Street trading figures and in the shifting yellow, green, and white geometric fields generated by fluctuations in market data. The resulting visual relationship suggests a resonance between the financial figure and the market itself, placing the individual within the larger system of financial forces that surrounds him.
The portraits of George Soros are executed on heavy watercolor paper using Chinese ink and Western acrylic, applied in relatively flat areas of color to create an effect reminiscent of a simplified woodcut portrait. The figure is therefore not simply placed against a background; instead, it appears to emerge from the visual atmosphere of Wall Street itself. The combination of Chinese ink and Western acrylic also reflects the international character of financial markets and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy. The work brings together different artistic traditions in the same way that contemporary financial systems bring together different nations, cultures, and economic forces.
The Memorandum series combines realistic representations of individuals with abstract data from the U.S. stock market, portraying influential figures from Wall Street and the broader financial world. These include Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and George Soros, as well as figures I plan to incorporate into the series, including Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, John Bogle, Jesse Livermore, and Sam Bankman. Whether their impact has been positive or negative, these individuals have played significant roles in the development of modern finance and economics. Their lives, decisions, and actions are inseparable from the social and human experience of contemporary society and therefore form part of the larger history of modern civilization.
At a deeper level, my portraiture explores two enduring human struggles that have shaped history across centuries: the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. By placing portraits of influential financial figures within the visual structures of market data, the Memorandum series examines the human beings behind the systems that shape contemporary economic life.
As an artist and scholar, I see the intersection of art, technology, and economics as an important dimension of contemporary culture. In today's increasingly AI-driven digital age,
technological acceleration and rapidly changing ways of life are creating new political, economic, social, and cultural challenges. My Wall Street Series seeks to examine these transformations through a visual language that brings together observation, data, painting, portraiture, and traditional and contemporary artistic practices. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I seek to develop an artistic voice that places seemingly separate fields into dialogue and considers how art can respond to the changing conditions of modern civilization.
Gan Yu
The GameStop Mania #1: Sky Is Our Limit at Gettysburg College Art Gallery, PA
The GameStop Mania: Sky is Our Limit, 2021-2022, 48” x 96”, watercolor-paper made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
The GameStop Mania: Sky is Our Limit, 2021-2022, 48” x 96”, Mixed-media on Canvas
The GameStop Mania: Sky is Our Limit, 2021-2022, 48” x 96”, watercolor-paper made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
The GameStop Mania: Sky is Our Limit, 2021-2022, 48” x 96”, Mixed-media on Canvas, Close-up
The GameStop Mania: Sky is Our Limit, 2021-2022, 48” x 96”, watercolor-paper made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
The GameStop Mania Series at CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, MD 2026
The GameStop Mania: Sky is Our Limit, 2021-2022, 48” x 96”, watercolor-paper made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
The GameStop Mania: Falling from the Sky, 2022-2023, 30” x
48”, Watercolor-paper made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
The GameStop Mania: Falling from the Sky, 2022-2023, 30” x
48”, paper-made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
48”, paper-made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
This series was exhibited at Gettysburg College Art Gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, CCACC Art Gallery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Culture Lab LIC in Queens, New York in 2025-2026.
“The GameStop Mania” series, including "Sky Is Our Limit" and "Falling from the Sky", transforms GameStop (GME) trading patterns into a visual landscape. Using five-day GME charts from late January to early February 2021, I translate rises and declines into moving mountain forms, capturing its speculative energy and emotion. I traded GME from January 28 to February 5, 2021, witnessing the confrontation between individual and institutional investors during renewed retail trading. Chinese ink and Western acrylic on canvas create a contrasting visual language. Another unique feature of this project was to use the embossed watercolor-paper made sculptural relief on a flat painting surface. This can physically stretch the flat 2-dimensional painting surface of canvas to a much wider multi-dimensional space (2 1/2” from the top to bottom). Black-and-white faces represent individual investors, while red faces suggest institutional power. The series transforms financial data into a meditation on technology, speculation, collective action, and relationships between individuals and institutions.
Gan Yu
Swimmers, 2021, 40” x 32”, Watercolor-paper made sculptural relief + ink and mixed-media on canvas
Swimmers
Swimmers was created in 2020–2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world was severely disrupted while financial markets remained unusually vibrant, fueled in part by intense retail trading. The work consists of eight canvases featuring distorted, overlapping cross forms against backgrounds combining black-and-white ink wash with color.
The imagery evokes swimmers moving through the clear and murky waters of financial markets, struggling day and night between certainty and uncertainty—whether wearing masks or not. Amid the fog of the pandemic, people became caught in a vortex of desire and fear, while financial markets became another arena of collective anxiety, speculation, and hope. The work also reflects the growing influence of individual investors, whose participation has become increasingly significant in U.S. and global markets.
Swimmers was exhibited at Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Gettysburg College Art Gallery, CCACC Art Gallery, and Culture Lab LIC.
Swimmers was created in 2020–2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world was severely disrupted while financial markets remained unusually vibrant, fueled in part by intense retail trading. The work consists of eight canvases featuring distorted, overlapping cross forms against backgrounds combining black-and-white ink wash with color.
The imagery evokes swimmers moving through the clear and murky waters of financial markets, struggling day and night between certainty and uncertainty—whether wearing masks or not. Amid the fog of the pandemic, people became caught in a vortex of desire and fear, while financial markets became another arena of collective anxiety, speculation, and hope. The work also reflects the growing influence of individual investors, whose participation has become increasingly significant in U.S. and global markets.
Swimmers was exhibited at Ethan Cohen KuBe Art Center, Gettysburg College Art Gallery, CCACC Art Gallery, and Culture Lab LIC.
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