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YANG Jiechang, <100 Layers of Ink>, Ink on xuan paper, 177x236cm, 1989-1991 © Chang Tsong Zung's Collection
YANG Jiechang, <100 Layers of Ink>, Ink on xuan paper, 236x177cm, 1989-1991
[China] YANG Jiechang 100 Layers of Ink 100 Layers of Ink
Contrary to making social commentaries with the means of Western avant-garde approach in Chinese contemporary art context, Yang Jiechang adopts the expressive quality of traditional ink painting and Daoist thoughts to reveal social and cultural powers embedded in the current state of global condition. Slaughter was censored due to its representation of the disaster of the Cultural Revolution, while marking his shift towards minimalistic renditions in his paintings. In 1989, Yang participated in the exhibition Magicien de la Terre with the work 100 Layers of Ink. He applied ink over and over on rice paper, and repeated the same process once the paper dried, over the period of a month The image displayed a layer of sheen from the coagulating agents in the ink, and the smooth surface creased into the form of mountains and rivers. This series continued for a decade, carrying forth a period of the artist’s practice which he considered the “useless” phase because “I didn’t know what I was doing, while still making something”. This process allowed the artist to wait for new inspirations, launching a transcendental phase in his work on material and spirit, self-emancipation and portrayal of universal love. His riveting techniques depicted inhuman absurdity and fear, whose effects matched the fear and excitement in Kant’s “Supremacy”. |
