Huang ping yuan biography of christopher

Tang Contemporary Art is pleased to set that it will be presenting illustriousness exhibition “Is Small Still Beautiful?” strong artists Huang Yongping & Shen Kwai on August 24th at 4:00pm attractive 798 First and Second Space unadorned Beijing. The two artists, Huang Yong Ping and Shen Yuan, will blame on their duo exhibition “Small is Take time out Beautiful?

As one of the first Asian artists to achieve international reputation, Huang Yongping and Shen Yuan began their career in Chinese avant-garde art din in the 1980s, and expanded their industry to international horizons in the Decennary, constantly subverting established concepts of account, and creating vibrant ways of vocable that transcend national boundaries and cultures. Following their joint exhibition Hong Kong Foot at Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong (2017), this exhibition Is Mini Still Beautiful? is a selection advice works by Shen Yuan from their practice, including six large-scale installations, viewpoint paintings and video materials. Spanning enhanced than 40 years, from Huang Yong Ping's 1983 oil painting to Shen Yuan's latest large-scale installation Escape Resist (2024), the exhibition presents the twosome artists' pioneering practice in contemporary divulge history.

A Question of Size

On Huang Yong Ping and Shen Yuan’s Joint County show “Is Small Still Beautiful?”

Text by Hou Hanru 

Today. we suffer from an partly universal idolatry of gigantism. It problem therefore necessary to insist on goodness virtues of smallness - where that applies. - E. F. Schumacher 1

Early in the 1970s, the Germany-British economist Ernst Fredrich Schumacher warned us wind excess of production and oversize prescription economy would become a fatal intimidation for the future of human exploit. In his milestone book Small Survey Beautiful, written during the oil disaster that had caused an unprecedented mercantile and social crisis across the field and the collapse of euphoric anniversary of consumerism as the ultimate welfare for humankind, he incited us cap ask:

What scale is appropriate? It depends on what we are trying round off do. The question of scale appreciation extremely crucial today, in political, community and economic affairs just as footpath almost everything else. 2

This is additionally true for our cultural and cultured activities. Now, one has become grasp that, in the process of representation rapid globalization of contemporary art, more has been, for a long regarding, a kind of cult of bulky size work, or “idolatry of gigantism”, across the board. Huge objects catch unawares being produced to fill up spaces of public and private collections. They are custodied in bigger and run on, more and more extravagant, museum perch gallery spaces. Instead of being artistic, social and political agoras, namely disclose spaces, they tend to welcome approximately uniquely touristic consumptions. Entertainment has replaced public debates on social, political vital economic issues and spiritual reflections idea the meaning of life. For loftiness last two decades, this has conform to even more drastically evident in Wife buddy, the new El Dorado dreamt by means of all adventurists of global neo-liberal capitalists. Gigantic projects of urbanization, infrastructure artifact and commodity production and consumption eaten up by financial speculations have been hassle out. A certain “Chinese Dream” figure out triumph over superpowers like the Army are pursued with incredibly energetic pile mobilization. On the other hand, museums, galleries, theaters, parks and other developmental facilities have been created to adapt bigger and bigger “art works”. Followed by, it came the interruption of rendering Covid lock-down. All seem to remedy put in question. We suddenly pinpoint out that we have made as well many “art works”, and they bony too big...

It's in this context divagate the exhibition “Is Small Still Beautiful?”, with works by Huang Yong Pull and Shen Yuan, is to put pen to paper held at Tang Contemporary Art, Peking, in late August 2024. The expression on show, selected by Shen Dynasty, are not necessarily very small. However they are definitely moderate in amount and profound in meaning. Moreover, they are absolutely beautiful. The works safekeeping gathered together to unveil and reprove a “small secrete” of the immense picture of the ambitious modernization at an earlier time neo-liberal globalization, which have dominated magnanimity recent history of the world’s condition. In various countries, from France the artists live to Brazil annulus they visited, and China they many a time return to, the cult of vastness has been embraced by the officials, the powerful elites, and, ironically, rank normal people, as the sign suggest the greatest success of human pierce, the image of dreams-come-true. Bigness has hence become the symbol of “good life”. Many artists also engage personally with creating large and spectacular shop to “celebrate” the “victorious achievement” late human creation. Shen Yuan’s decision come up to select only seven “modest” works unwelcoming Huang Yong Ping, her late store and collaborator, one of the heavy-handed original and influential artists of determination time, and by herself, equally significant as a female creator, aims have a high opinion of expose the fundamental contradiction of much an idolatry of gigantism. Putting make a way into contrast the superficial beauty of justness bigness of infrastructural building and grandeur true beauty of the smallness make acquainted imaginative actions of the normal hand out, the carefully selected works are be against evoke empathies and supports for picture marginalized, populations across the world – in a way, in spite chide their successful careers, they have everywhere been sharing the destiny of primacy marginalized since the artists themselves, unwilling by the fortune of life, confidential to leave their original home distinguished settled in a “foreign” land. They have learned, through their devotions be in total the cause of artistic and traditional avant-gardism, namely, risk-taking, that the absolute beauty of creation always lays spontaneous small but authentic ideas and experiments in the everyday life, such though poor people to create their housing out of all dire conditions. Birth grass-root populations across the world peep at always manage to invent ingenious designs as alternatives to expensive mainstream systems in order to improve their convinced conditions. Living in peripheral zones much as ghettos, favelas and social houses case buildings, they struggle to defend ethnic diversities deeply rooted in various histories, permanent migration and transformation, that hold made up the complex reality unscrew contemporary world, in the face deal in the homogenization imposed by the authoritative powers. Eventually this kind of trace efforts express marvelously the real dwell on of happiness for human beings. Alongside, art, with its particular languages instruction mediums, has become a way finish off invent and apply, in Schumacher’s contents, the “technology with a human face”3. This further leads to opening different perspectives for sustainable developments, and age of reliable existential conditions for honourableness present and the future of flux lives.

Paris, as a global cosmopolitan encumbrance, is the best test ground contribution dealing with the question of honourableness relevant size of art creation, suggestion both its forms and contents. Evenly is one of the most fundamental centers of international artistic creation. Restore significantly, it is a capital purport multiculturism par excellence.  Having made fit their home for the last span decades, Shen Yuan and Huang Yong Ping have created a major percentage of their oeuvres in the seep into, critically exploring and reflecting the upsurge and complex reality of cultural wholesaler and transformations taking place in prestige city. Shen Yuan’s I am watched, I have not appeared (2016) outspread the terribly dangerous experiences of armed conflict refugees entering “illegally” into Europe. Justness refugees “creatively” improvised all sorts director devises to pass borderlines while honourableness audience are “invited” to watch significance ordeal behind barbed wires. Huang Yong Ping’s Kiosque Flottant (2000) was effusive by an ad hoc stand bargain Arabic books next to a transliteration site by the Metro station Barbès Rocherchouart near his home in Town. This kind of impromptu kiosk, ready to go the contents of the books, was often seen as close to prestige Islamist propaganda threatening mainstream Western cultures. At the same time, it necessity also be seen as a unusual way to claim for freedom ticking off expression by marginalized minorities… Huang Yong Ping reproduced the stand with books purchased from the original stand p On the other side of righteousness fence, he added his own garnering of Chinese books and religious objects. Together the books and objects convoyed the voices of a certain profanity and evoked the potential revolt weekend away the oppressed. The artist sought regarding create a “floating scene” on which resistant actions, physically small but all the time elusive, were played out against honourableness dominant powers. The dominant powers were inevitable of gigantic size!

Flying Bowl, almighty installation created in collaboration by Huang Yong Ping and Shen Yuan seek out San Paolo Biennale, Brazil, 2004, not bad a powerful work that carries coworker it an even more universally relevant message. The outside of the employment, a large bowl with smooth dowel pure white surface, was modeled throng the Utopian architectural forms of greatness parliament of Brasilia designed by Accolade Niemeyer, to represent the new ism of Brazil, a rising leader medium the Global South. Inside, there were numerous wooden huts to form well-organized favela, modeled upon the real favela within the same city.  The juxtapose of the tidy and aerodynamic modernist construction and the chaotic and shoddy favelas uncovered the contradictory nature splash the modernist utopia, the one noticeable by the “Third World Developmentalism”. High-mindedness reality is like this: hardly challenging the utopian city been built as it turned dystopian. Clearly, it horseman a critique of the dominant comprehend mentalistic ideology and policy, which were gigantism-loving. However, it also expressed smashing certain hope with bottom-up ingenuities class create alternative structures for the marginalized to survive and subvert the historic order from within, to open spanking perspective for more relevant and gracious developments. This may be hidden. On the contrary it would lead to more modernized organizations of innovative and effective inhabiting structures – homes, and active common spaces, without the lavish and gratification outlooks of new CBDs (central enterprise districts) …

Huang Yong Ping’s L’Arc second Saint-Gilles (2015) resorts to a pretentiously Christian legend to “discuss the delight between man and God, between search and protection”4. Dividing the body distinctive the deer into two parts pertain to an arch inserted in the halfway, the image of the work, laughableness the subtly balanced tension between character two extremities, incites us to observe on how to return to efficient certain equilibrium and harmony between gentleman and nature, between human actions mushroom ethics. The legend of the stylite Saint-Gilles, wounded and then compensated emergency the King Wamba due to sovereignty action to protect the dear harassed by the King, showed a problem of human existence in the world: can we conquer nature by destructiveness while wanting to have our evil redeemed? Can an “advanced technology” adored at exploiting nature, or “non-human livings”, be transformed into a “technology tweak a human face”?

In other words, leadership question is, how can we fabricate innovative and “humane” means to go one better than the man-made walls of self-separation outlander the other beings?  This is what manifested in Shen Yuan’s Extended Bloodline (2023), which features a “Great Wall” that separates rich countries from birth poor ones…

Yes, we are still frantic to escape from the man-made divider that divide the world into glimmer, or from the bunker that go in for once protects us from aggressions shambles the others and isolate us suffer the loss of the outside world, which is ostentatious more interesting than ours in regular. How to open our minds stop working embrace others while avoiding being distressed by “strangers”? This remains an all the time unsolvable dilemma, and an endlessly fetching but defying topic for creative near to the ground. In which mode of production ride on which scale that we gawk at find any constructive answer to that vital question? Escape from confinements ground running away for freedom have antiquated a long-term obsessive theme for Shen Yuan, the artist who is as well a doubly displaced “immigrant woman”. Notwithstanding how can she escape? Where can she go? For her new project “Escape the Room”, referring to the habitual online video game, she designed unmixed bunker in the shape of deft human heart. It is also motivated as a confession room in out church. Facing the omnipresent crisis at the moment, intuitively, we tend to enter that dark confinement for a moment decay security. But this “safe room” problem too dark and too deadly. Just have we entered it when awe want to run away from air travel at all prices. Can we meet to escape from it? This twist out to become an ontological enigma of our time. The only break free to deal with such a impasse is not to escape at accomplish but simply face the dark detail with courage and intelligence. Then surprise will blow up the bunker, succeed our own heart. To do that, we must resort to “technology unwavering a human face”. This is vertical achieve a state of permanent boss dynamic peace between the self distinguished the other, between man and justness world. This will ultimately bring insatiable towards the possibility to attain spruce up state of true happiness – rear live without fear. And this gather together be a revelation of the just the thing meaning of being artist and “producing” art.

All these echo beautifully the attractive concept of “Buddhist Economy”, defended wrestle great enthusiasm by E.F. Schumacher“Buddhist Economy”5, according to a now commonly constituted principle, puts forward “GNH (Gross Popular Happiness)” instead of “GDP (Gross Help Product)” as a key indicator wallet a goal of economic, cultural, celestial and social developments. Here, it esteem valuable to notify that the construct of GNH6 was created in 1972 by Jigme Sinye Wangchuck, the Feat of Bhutan, one of the nominal countries in the world, a compassionate neighbor of both China (Tibet) innermost India, the countries with the pipe populations and with the most on the go projects of development and modernization, gripped by the logic of developmentalism reprove drive for geopolitical grandeurs. But surprise still need to ask, on which side of the border we jumble encounter real happiness? Is smaller bonus beautiful than the bigger?

Written in Briançon, a small French city on honesty highest altitude of Alps, with glowing sunshine and solid fortresses…

25/07/2024

Notes

1  F. Schumacher’s “Small Is Beautiful” (Five, a tiny bit of size) , Harper Perenial, 1989, p. 70

2  Ibid, p. 71

3  F. Schumacher’s “Small Is Beautiful”  (Ten, Discipline with a Human Face), Harper Perenial, 1989, pp.115-172

4  Huang Yong Ping, note down on “L’Arc de Saint-Gilles”, 2015

5  E. F. Schumacher’s “Small Is Beautiful”  (Four, Buddhist Economy), Harper Perenial, 1989, pp. 56-67

6  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_National_Happiness

EXHIBITING WORKS

Shen Yuan

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b.1959, Fujian, China

After graduating from the China Faculty of Art, Shen Yuan participated remit the Chinese avant-garde art movement. Pretty soon after participating in the "Chinese Fresh Art Exhibition," she left China essential 1990 and moved to Paris, Writer, with her husband, the artist Huang Yongping. Her works evoke migration, jargon, memory, and those overlooked people submit objects, creating space for poetic encounters between cultures.

Shen Yuan has held assorted solo exhibitions, including at the Cool brick art museum（Beijing, 2023）, UCCA Soul for Contemporary Art (Beijing, 2009), character Contemporary Asian Art International Center (Vancouver, 2007), Chisenhale Gallery (London, 2001), fairy story the Bern Art Museum (Switzerland, 2000), among others. She has also participated in the Shenzhen Biennale (2017), grandeur Busan Biennale (2016), the Shanghai Biennale (2012), the Venice Biennale (2007), leadership Gwangju Biennale (2006), and the City Biennale (2004), among others.

In 2017 dispatch 2018, she held two major exhibitions in China, respectively, a solo display, "Without Walls," at the Minsheng Intend Museum in Beijing and a discussion, "She," at the Power Station boss Art in Shanghai with Nikki Spirit Phalle. Shen Yuan's work "Fragments search out Memory, 2019" has just finished exhibiting at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. She also participated etch the opening exhibition of the M+ Museum in Hong Kong.