Zhao Yang ─ In Between
2016.12.23～2017.02.12
09:00 - 17:00
Zhao Yang, born in 1970, has been deeply influenced by poetry and the major classics. For many years, he inhabited the world of books, working at a Children's publisher house. This unconventional path into art has enriched his work, without making it too inaccessible. His work is stamped with a trademark aesthetic, which mingles inspiration from Chinese masters with influences from contemporary western painters. The exhibition is built around the common theme of
Uncanniness”, (Das Unheimliche), a psychoanalytical concept coined by Sigmund Freud to describe something which is the result of a departure from ordinary rationality. In Zhao Yang’s work, fiction and the bizarre emerge through various layers of life, superimposed to form the
In between”. The notion of re-painting is a recurring theme used to draw in the viewer, and the artist freely paints over previous works including those of his father. Hovering uncertainty and going back in time are core forces behind his work. The exhibition is being held on the second floor of the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, and is built around three central driving themes. The first focuses on modernity and the contemporary world. In Zhao Yang’s work, the present is often twisted, violent and verges on the nightmarish. It is in this part of his work that viewers will discover his oldest pieces, testimony to a darker period than can be found in more recent compositions. Hybrid, and sometimes deformed animals are depicted alongside cars and other ordinary objects taken from everyday life – such as a junkyard, abandoned buildings, a merry-go-round or a power station. Zhao Yang brings us his disinherited world, which ultimately is a world with which everyone can identify. In the second section of the exhibition, nature forms the focal point of studies into its complexity and primitiveness. Zhao Yang who was born in Jilin, always loved wandering through its mountainous terrain, which instilled his permanent desire to return to the essence of things. Ancestral themes run through his creations, marking them with themes, such as hunting and landscapes. Hunting, as a case in point, becomes a simple act of finding food, conducted in perfect balance with the provider, mother nature. The third episode on display is the science of portrait painting, developed to a new plane by Zhao Yang, and devoted to myths and legends. The paintings stage famous tales, such as the white serpent, but more importantly they cultivate an apparently limitless personal mythology. Consequently, mermaids and centaurs are summoned to appear, and blend with the artist’s vision of primitivism. These figures take the shape of a wild, ideal man, a being returning to its roots, and living in union with the world.
Uncanniness”, (Das Unheimliche), a psychoanalytical concept coined by Sigmund Freud to describe something which is the result of a departure from ordinary rationality. In Zhao Yang’s work, fiction and the bizarre emerge through various layers of life, superimposed to form the
In between”. The notion of re-painting is a recurring theme used to draw in the viewer, and the artist freely paints over previous works including those of his father. Hovering uncertainty and going back in time are core forces behind his work. The exhibition is being held on the second floor of the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, and is built around three central driving themes. The first focuses on modernity and the contemporary world. In Zhao Yang’s work, the present is often twisted, violent and verges on the nightmarish. It is in this part of his work that viewers will discover his oldest pieces, testimony to a darker period than can be found in more recent compositions. Hybrid, and sometimes deformed animals are depicted alongside cars and other ordinary objects taken from everyday life – such as a junkyard, abandoned buildings, a merry-go-round or a power station. Zhao Yang brings us his disinherited world, which ultimately is a world with which everyone can identify. In the second section of the exhibition, nature forms the focal point of studies into its complexity and primitiveness. Zhao Yang who was born in Jilin, always loved wandering through its mountainous terrain, which instilled his permanent desire to return to the essence of things. Ancestral themes run through his creations, marking them with themes, such as hunting and landscapes. Hunting, as a case in point, becomes a simple act of finding food, conducted in perfect balance with the provider, mother nature. The third episode on display is the science of portrait painting, developed to a new plane by Zhao Yang, and devoted to myths and legends. The paintings stage famous tales, such as the white serpent, but more importantly they cultivate an apparently limitless personal mythology. Consequently, mermaids and centaurs are summoned to appear, and blend with the artist’s vision of primitivism. These figures take the shape of a wild, ideal man, a being returning to its roots, and living in union with the world.
Zhao Yang, born in 1970, has been deeply influenced by poetry and the major classics. For many years, he inhabited the world of books, working at a Children's publisher house. This unconventional path into art has enriched his work, without making it too inaccessible. His work is stamped with a trademark aesthetic, which mingles inspiration from Chinese masters with influences from contemporary western painters. The exhibition is built around the common theme of
Uncanniness”, (Das Unheimliche), a psychoanalytical concept coined by Sigmund Freud to describe something which is the result of a departure from ordinary rationality. In Zhao Yang’s work, fiction and the bizarre emerge through various layers of life, superimposed to form the
In between”. The notion of re-painting is a recurring theme used to draw in the viewer, and the artist freely paints over previous works including those of his father. Hovering uncertainty and going back in time are core forces behind his work. The exhibition is being held on the second floor of the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, and is built around three central driving themes. The first focuses on modernity and the contemporary world. In Zhao Yang’s work, the present is often twisted, violent and verges on the nightmarish. It is in this part of his work that viewers will discover his oldest pieces, testimony to a darker period than can be found in more recent compositions. Hybrid, and sometimes deformed animals are depicted alongside cars and other ordinary objects taken from everyday life – such as a junkyard, abandoned buildings, a merry-go-round or a power station. Zhao Yang brings us his disinherited world, which ultimately is a world with which everyone can identify. In the second section of the exhibition, nature forms the focal point of studies into its complexity and primitiveness. Zhao Yang who was born in Jilin, always loved wandering through its mountainous terrain, which instilled his permanent desire to return to the essence of things. Ancestral themes run through his creations, marking them with themes, such as hunting and landscapes. Hunting, as a case in point, becomes a simple act of finding food, conducted in perfect balance with the provider, mother nature. The third episode on display is the science of portrait painting, developed to a new plane by Zhao Yang, and devoted to myths and legends. The paintings stage famous tales, such as the white serpent, but more importantly they cultivate an apparently limitless personal mythology. Consequently, mermaids and centaurs are summoned to appear, and blend with the artist’s vision of primitivism. These figures take the shape of a wild, ideal man, a being returning to its roots, and living in union with the world.
Uncanniness”, (Das Unheimliche), a psychoanalytical concept coined by Sigmund Freud to describe something which is the result of a departure from ordinary rationality. In Zhao Yang’s work, fiction and the bizarre emerge through various layers of life, superimposed to form the
In between”. The notion of re-painting is a recurring theme used to draw in the viewer, and the artist freely paints over previous works including those of his father. Hovering uncertainty and going back in time are core forces behind his work. The exhibition is being held on the second floor of the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, and is built around three central driving themes. The first focuses on modernity and the contemporary world. In Zhao Yang’s work, the present is often twisted, violent and verges on the nightmarish. It is in this part of his work that viewers will discover his oldest pieces, testimony to a darker period than can be found in more recent compositions. Hybrid, and sometimes deformed animals are depicted alongside cars and other ordinary objects taken from everyday life – such as a junkyard, abandoned buildings, a merry-go-round or a power station. Zhao Yang brings us his disinherited world, which ultimately is a world with which everyone can identify. In the second section of the exhibition, nature forms the focal point of studies into its complexity and primitiveness. Zhao Yang who was born in Jilin, always loved wandering through its mountainous terrain, which instilled his permanent desire to return to the essence of things. Ancestral themes run through his creations, marking them with themes, such as hunting and landscapes. Hunting, as a case in point, becomes a simple act of finding food, conducted in perfect balance with the provider, mother nature. The third episode on display is the science of portrait painting, developed to a new plane by Zhao Yang, and devoted to myths and legends. The paintings stage famous tales, such as the white serpent, but more importantly they cultivate an apparently limitless personal mythology. Consequently, mermaids and centaurs are summoned to appear, and blend with the artist’s vision of primitivism. These figures take the shape of a wild, ideal man, a being returning to its roots, and living in union with the world.
In 1970, Zhao Yang was born in Siping, Jilin province. In 1995, he graduated from China Academy of Art. In Zhao’s art world, remarkable powers were crammed into a picture of paradox which contained a fictional world of time crossing images and fantastic figures. Metaphors and symbols built up the foundation of his arts roaming between ordinary real life and dramatic world of eastern and western legend stories and fables. By combining surrealistic approach and daily life context he created an intensively dramatic impact. The stage that was built by certain time and space was swept away, and reconstructed with absurd and exaggeration, as though there was a monument of nihilism and romanticism standing in the scene. The artist held conflict and harmony in a particular space of contradiction and anxiety. Standing in front of Zhao’s work, you might feel confused, and then make a knowing smile and immediately get hesitant, finally be set into those traps. He built an amusement park named “Zhao Yang” where is full of entertainment facilities made of his own art works, in which he racked his brains, he set obstacles, he adjusted the difficulty, and he enjoyed himself. He is a maze builder. Subtly, he’s controlling the balance between “out of control” and “under control”, plotting suspense, spreading fog, wiping the clue, covering the trace, and concealing emotions. “Zhao Yang” is a clandestine lab built by amateur, in which we produce uselessness, build collapsing, study “failure” while shrugging our shoulders, smiling and saying “Whatever”. Selected exhibition: ‘Zao’ by ZHAO Yang, ShanghART Main Space & H-Space, Shanghai (2016); “We, a Community of Chinese Contemporary Artists”, Chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai (2016); “China 8, Contemporary Art from China at the Rhine and Ruhr”, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2015); “Une Histoire: Art, Architecture, Ddesign des Années 1980 à Nos Jours, Collections Contemporaines”, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2015); “ZHAO Yang solo exhibition-A Mirags Similar Truth Trugbild”, Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, German (2013), etc.
In 1970, Zhao Yang was born in Siping, Jilin province. In 1995, he graduated from China Academy of Art. In Zhao’s art world, remarkable powers were crammed into a picture of paradox which contained a fictional world of time crossing images and fantastic figures. Metaphors and symbols built up the foundation of his arts roaming between ordinary real life and dramatic world of eastern and western legend stories and fables. By combining surrealistic approach and daily life context he created an intensively dramatic impact. The stage that was built by certain time and space was swept away, and reconstructed with absurd and exaggeration, as though there was a monument of nihilism and romanticism standing in the scene. The artist held conflict and harmony in a particular space of contradiction and anxiety. Standing in front of Zhao’s work, you might feel confused, and then make a knowing smile and immediately get hesitant, finally be set into those traps. He built an amusement park named “Zhao Yang” where is full of entertainment facilities made of his own art works, in which he racked his brains, he set obstacles, he adjusted the difficulty, and he enjoyed himself. He is a maze builder. Subtly, he’s controlling the balance between “out of control” and “under control”, plotting suspense, spreading fog, wiping the clue, covering the trace, and concealing emotions. “Zhao Yang” is a clandestine lab built by amateur, in which we produce uselessness, build collapsing, study “failure” while shrugging our shoulders, smiling and saying “Whatever”. Selected exhibition: ‘Zao’ by ZHAO Yang, ShanghART Main Space & H-Space, Shanghai (2016); “We, a Community of Chinese Contemporary Artists”, Chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai (2016); “China 8, Contemporary Art from China at the Rhine and Ruhr”, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2015); “Une Histoire: Art, Architecture, Ddesign des Années 1980 à Nos Jours, Collections Contemporaines”, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2015); “ZHAO Yang solo exhibition-A Mirags Similar Truth Trugbild”, Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, German (2013), etc.
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