As an artist who draws heavily upon his inspirations of expressionism, Ye Yongqing has sought to reinvent Chinese painting, to exploring Western techniques and traditions, and to take a humanist, intuitive and nativist approach to painting. With an emphasis on direct and intuitive experiences, Ye has resolved his artistic focus upon a visual expression to a raw, native, ethnic spirit. Ye has seemingly discarded both Westernization and modernism in his art, and gravitates instead towards a more retrospective self-analysis; art is Ye's way of expressing his feelings about life and indeed the very nature of life itself.

Ye intently draws from nature for his inspiration. The motif of a bird - a symbol of purity and freedom cross-culturally - is a concurrent appearance throughout many of his works. Ye has derived inspiration from Western masters, in particular Cezanne, and he later went on to discover the metaphysical painting of De Chirico and the surrealism of Dali.

In Untitled (Lot 586) Ye employs mixed media on canvas to instill a squarely symbolic collage of metaphors and entrapped images of nature. Akin to Ye's other works of this selection - Untitled (Lot 584), also painted in 1999 - all compile an abstract viewpoint into the artists' mind, as he addresses his concern with such topics as social reform and the environment.

Untitled (Lot 587) is a unique portraiture that expresses Ye's profound skill of expressionism. In this work of a decidedly azure hue, Ye merges themes of nature with that of a female figure who rests forlornly beneath a vast white flower, her head titled and hands tightly clasped. The bird motif is once again present, and aids to provide a deeper reflection of the artists' spirit and emotions.