1.    Possibility

[Excerpted from an essay written by curator Li Xu in conjunction with 7 8 9 10 – Lu Hao, Wang Yin, Xiao Yu, Yang Moayuan, an exhibition held at Yibo Gallery, Shanghai, in 2007.]

Ever since the early 1990s, Chinese contemporary art has been appearing in various big-scale international exhibitions such as Venice Biennale, Sao Paulo Biennale and Kassel Documenta. Stepping into the new century, Chinese contemporary art has gained an unexpected success in the commercial market: Auction records of millions of dollars are being renewed all the time; internationally renowned galleries have started to sign contracts with Chinese contemporary artists; and the artists themselves have become cover figures, attracting the attention of media just like famous politicians, film stars and business moguls. This phenomenon was of course unimaginable twenty years ago, when many of the artists were still struggling for the “’85 New Wave Movement.”

Under the current circumstances, certain forms and styles have accumulated enormous amounts of cultural and commercial value. As a result, even the most creative artists have to carefully maintain their relatively stable artistic languages. Many successful ones are unwilling to step out of their limited spaces or try out new possibilities. In other words, there are fewer and fewer successful individuals who dare to freely change their creative styles.

What we present to the audience this time are four artists rare in our times. They are Lu Hao, Wang Yin, Xiao Yu and Yang Maoyuan. Having achieved success a long time ago, they could have happily enjoyed their fame for many years, but they are never easily satisfied with the current status. They challenge their existing styles and languages by constantly taking new actions – these new actions show great courage, and more importantly, high quality. …

Sheep No.3 (2001)

The formal starting point of Yang Maoyuan's personal artistic style is closely related to his series based on animal specimens. At the beginning of the new century, he won the recognition of the contemporary art world through his series of bloated and distorted horses and sheep which resemble bizarre-looking balloons. As these deliberately processed animal specimens appeared at various big-scale contemporary art exhibitions around the world, Yang Maoyuan was also being recognized as a conceptual artist with a distinct artistic trademark, his influence gradually crossing the boundaries between countries. In fact, Yang is not an artist who would follow a linear route or stick to a fixed style. He always shows great interest and curiosity towards the things around him, and he enjoys seeing through their superficial appearances. After in-depth exploration and research of an object's structure and essence, he would apply his understanding – even misunderstanding – to his works. It is this creative approach that has given his works their diverse and seemingly inconsistent forms. His paintings, installations, sculptures and films all appear to be rather different, but if one is careful enough, it is not very difficult to discover within them an inner coherence, which is manifested in his emphasis on objects’ basic structures and volumes, and his deliberate misinterpretation of their original meanings. In 2005, after finding a new possibility, he created a series entitled Look Inside. It included a group of marble pieces based on plaster prototypes of classic Western head sculptures. These prototypes are often used in Chinese fine arts colleges as teaching tools. By rounding and polishing all their edges, the artist fully expressed his alternative view on Eastern and Western attitudes towards culture, philosophy, aesthetics and education. This almost violent “distortion” brought out an extraordinary sense of black humor. In a sense, the effort in erasing ethnicity, personality, geographic difference and classical symbols can also be viewed as a poignant metaphor of the disasters caused by globalization. During this exhibition, Yang Maoyuan will present his recent Buddha series [Faces (2007)] together with some paintings based on the primary colors of bright red, yellow and blue. Whether it is in a two or three dimensional space, the artist's concept remains clear and stable. Formal elements such as color, composition, volume and perspective are all united by a coherent idea of “reverse reconstruction.” What they form is an alternative landscape in the spiritual world.

Faces (2006-2007), as seen at 7 8 9 10 exhibition in Shanghai in 2007

As the curator, I once lost my direction when I was trying to think of a title for the four-person exhibition. This spring, when I was in Beijing, the word “possibility” came to my mind one night and has stuck there ever since. It suddenly occurred to me that all four of them are extremely unique artists, and that although each of them has a different style, they share the same passion and desire that allow them to keep pursuing brand new possibilities.

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6.   Report from Berlin [from online art magazine PORT (PortlandArt.net)] (2008)

Place is a fundamental concept. There is something about a change in geography and language that reveals to the traveler a whole new way of thinking, a unique aesthetic. "Culture shock" is the relatively pejorative term we use for breaking out of our paradigm of living, but sometimes shock is both essential and welcome; an unfamiliar cultural environment is a wake-up call to those of us operating on autopilot.

Like me, you might be sorry to see this perspective cast aside with a dismissive wave in last week's NYT [New York Times] Style Magazine. A Travel Spring 2008 article proclaimed, "Expats in Berlin have turned the city into one big arty party," as though the best reason to go to an international arts hub is for the revelry. But for artists and arts patrons, the best Berlin has to offer isn't the party, but the culture shock. Here are some of the highlights of what I found there last week . . .

Maoyuan's "Faces (Buddhas)" (2006-2007) [as seen at the exhibition in Berlin in 2008]

Most of the group shows I saw didn't offer much in the way of real stunners, the exception being "Die Wahren Orte" at Alexander Ochs, a gallery specializing in Chinese contemporary art. This exhibition, which promised to change over the course of its tenure, included Yin Xiuzhen's 50-ft. installation of a bus with stitched panels of repurposed clothing from Chinese sweatshops, and Yang Maoyuan's series of ground-down marble Buddha heads, simply entitled "Faces".

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7.    Curator’s short statement – by Wolf Guenter Thiel (2008)

Yang Maoyuan – the Archetype, the Horse and the Qi

Alexander Ochs Galleries (Berlin)

July 19th – September 6th 2008

Eröffnung/Opening:

July 18th 2008, 7 - 9 pm

Unlike other artists of his age, Yang Maoyuan places the interest in traditional Chinese philosophy and ideology in the focus of his art, and he is deeply engaged in the spiritual and mental possibilities they imply. In different series of works, this exhibition gives insight into the eclectic manifestations these philosophic and spiritual reflections have engendered.

Yang’s series of “Inflated animals” – horses, goats and sheep, inflated to monstrous size and sometimes in lucid colors – concentrates on the past and family tradition. The artist’s ancestors lived as nomads in Mongolia with all those animals. The work shows Yang’s personal interest in his cultural roots and the identity of his family.

Other works in his first European solo show concentrate on the confrontation of men with their own existence, nature, and transience.

Introduction: Wolf Guenter Thiel

The artist will be present.

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Yang Maoyuan rückt anders als viele Künstler seiner Generation traditionelle chinesische Denkmodelle und Philosophien in den Blickpunkt seiner Arbeit und interessiert sich für deren spirituelle und mentale Möglichkeiten. Verschiedenste Werkkomplexe dieser Einzelausstellung zeigen, wie vielseitig er diese Gedankenströmungen in seiner Arbeit zum Ausdruck bringt.

So beschäftigt sich unter anderem die Serie der „Inflated Animals“ - Pferde, Ziegen und Schafe, zu monströser Größe aufgeblasen und teilweise in leuchtenden Farben - mit Vergangenheit und Familientradition. Die Vorfahren des Künstlers lebten in der Mongolei als Nomaden mit diesen Tieren. Mit seinen Arbeiten zeigt der Künstler sein tiefes persönliches Interesse an der ursprünglichen kulturellen, über Generationen überlieferten Identität seiner Familie.

Weitere Werkserien seiner ersten Einzelausstellung in Europa setzen sich auseinander mit der Konfrontation des Menschen mit seiner eigenen Existenz, der Natur und der Vergänglichkeit aller Dinge.

Einführung: Wolf Guenter Thiel

Der Künstler ist anwesend.