Yang Jiechang
Yang Jiechang (Chinese: 杨诘苍; born 1956) is a Chinese contemporary artist who emigrated to Europe in 1989.
Life
Yang was born in Foshan in Guangdong Province, PR China, in 1956. He belongs to what in China is called the "second generation of contemporary artists". He grew up during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and the beginning of his artistic career coincided with China’s political opening in the late 1970s and 1980s. He was trained in the techniques of paper mounting, calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (1978–1982), where he taught until 1988. In 1989 he participated in the exhibition Les magiciens de la terre in the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. He decided to remain in Europe.
Yang's first decade in Europe was a period of introspection and reinvention of identity, as reflected in his series of large monochrome black ink paintings, the Hundred Layers of Ink (1988–1999). After the shock of the September 11 attacks, these monochrome meditative inks were superseded by figurative paintings and videos referencing critical subjects and actual events.
Exhibitions
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Yang has participated in numerous exhibitions, including:
- China Avant-Garde, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 1989
- Les Magiciens de la terre, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1989[1]
- Chine demain pour hier, Pourrières, France, 1990[1]
- Silent Energy, Modern Art Oxford, 1993[1]
- Shenzhen International Ink Biennial, Shenzhen, PR China, 1998, 2000, 2002[1]
- Pause Gwangju Biennale, Korea, 2002[1]
- Zone of Urgency, Venice Biennale, Venice, 2003[1]
- La Nuit Blanche, Paris, France, 2004
- Le moine et le démon, Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France, 2004
- All Under Heaven, Muhka, Antwerp, Belgium, 2004
- Beyond, Second Guangzhou Triennial, Guanzhou, PR China, 2005
- Layered Landscapes, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford, USA, 2005[2]
- Biennial of Emergency, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2005
- Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK, 2006
- Laboratoires pour un avenir incertain, La Force de l’Art - 1st Paris Triennial, Grand Palais, Paris, 2006
- Capolavoro, Palazzo di Primavera, Terni, Rome, 2006
- Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, 2007
- Metamorphosis - The Generation of Transformation in Chinese Comtemporary Art, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland, 2007
- New Wave ’85 UCCA, Beijing, PR China, 2007
- Onda Anomala – Manifesta 7, Trento, Italy, 2008
- Against Exclusion, Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Garage, Moscow, 2009
- Lyon Biennial, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Lyon, France, 2009
- Qui a peur des artistes ? Une sélection d’œuvres de la Fondation François Pinault, Musée de Dinard, France, 2009
- Hareng Saur : Ensor et l’art contemporain, MSK and S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium, 2010[3]
- Le Jardin Emprunté, Jardin du Palais-Royal, Paris, 2010
- The World Belongs to You, Palazzo Grassi, Fondation F. Pinault, Venice, 2011
- Death Matters, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2011
- Reactivation, Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, PR China, 2012
- Sehnsucht, Gaasbeek Castle, Belgium, 2012
- Clouds, Museum of Sketches for Public Art, Lund, Sweden, 2012
- Zizhiqu/ Autonomous Regions, Times Museum Guangzhou, PR China, 2013
- Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2013
- China's Changing Landscape, Nordic Watercolour Museum, Sweden, 2014
- La Chine ardente. Sculptures monumentales contemporaines, Mons - European Capital of Culture, Belgium, 2015
- Harmony and Transition. Chinese Landscapes in Contemporary Art, MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany, 2015
- Fragmentary Narratives, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford, USA, 2016[4]
- Carambolages, Grand Palais, Paris, 2016[5]
In popular culture
On film
- 2013 - The Enduring Passion for Ink by Britta Erickson
References
- ^ a b c d e f Davis, Edward L., ed. (2004). "Yang Jiechang". Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture. Routledge. pp. 691–692.
- ^ "Chinese art exhibit is highly political". stanford.edu. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ "Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art". smak.be. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ "Fragmentary Narratives – Stanford Arts". stanford.edu. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ "Deux copies d'aquarelles d'Hitler au Grand Palais - Connaissance des Arts". connaissancedesarts.com. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
Further reading
- Yang Jiechang - No Shadow Kick, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, 2008.
- Britta Erickson, "Yang Jiechang: The Communist Party Didn't Pay the Bill", Art Asia Pacific 65 (Sep/Oct 2009): 116-123.
- I Often Do Bad Things. Yang Jiechang: Texts and Works 1982 - 2016, Martina Köppel-Yang (ed), Verlag Kettler, Dortmund, 2016
External links
- Jiechang biography, Ink Studio
- Yang Jiechang Discusses His Work 100 Layers of Ink in Ink Art: Past As Present in Contemporary China – video on the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014