The Ullens Collection Of Chinese Contemporary Art

4623 | HUANG YONGPING Made in 1999 One Man Nine Animals

One Man Nine Animals

Author: HUANG YONGPING 黄永砯

Size: In different sizes;248×148×242cm

Signed and dated: Made in 1999

Estimate: Estimate Upon Request

Final Price: unsold

LITERATURE
2002 Paris-Pékin/P114–117/Chinese Century
2004 All under Heaven/P96–97/ MuHKA and KMSKA,Chinese Century

EXHIBITED
1999 The 48th Venice Biennale Pavlion France,Italy
(The Exhibit Version was Made by Cast Aluminium,and Collected by Fonds National d’art Contemporain)
2002 Paris-Pékin Espace Cardin,Paris,France
2004 All under Heaven,MuHKA and KMSKA,Antwerpen,Belgium
2007 Caen Fine Art Museum,Normandy,France
NOTICE
The work is to be handled and claimed in Hong Kong,China. Please contact Beijing Poly Auction Modern and Contemporary Department Staff for further details.
The artist is not here to create works,but to search for the reason for making works - the reason that makes me decide to do this instead of that,in this way and not that way. The search for the reason is not determined by me. Consequently,divination becomes the indispensable medium to search for the reason.
Looking back at the history of Chinese Contemporary art,it changes the artistic images introduced from Russia since the establishment of People’s Republic China and the concept of revolutionary realism. Such change comes in 2 different directions. For one,opinion-oriented concept spurs easel painting to be out of the picture,allowing new art forms,including actionism,conceptual art and installation art,to start evolving. For another,it keeps the imagery way of expression,referring to the way of expression from Western contemporary art. Based on this,historical images and the daily life images from ordinary people are widely used. It is safe to say that both directions more or less are interrelated with Western avant-garde,especially the former one in terms of the art practice.
As one important components of “Opinion-oriented” and “85 Wave”,Xiamen Dada somehow followed Dadaism evolved in the early twentieth century in the west. Xiamen Dada not only challenges the art system in terms of the art practices,such as challenging museums or art galleries which have an invisible power in deciding the form,the feasibility of art collection and the comprehend-ability of art,but also reflects and questions art forms. Xiamen Dada emphasizes on the open-mindedness of art,the multiple forms of art and the fact that arts does come by chance. Similar to Dadaism in western Postmodernism,Xiamen Dada aims to get rid of all restrictions imposed on art creation in Chinese contemporary art industry,infinitely approaching a Utopian world. In this world,everyone is his own creator and ruler,so every creation undoubtedly becomes the outcome from independent thinking and self struggle.
As the pioneer in Xiamen Dada,Yongping Huang’s art creation shares a consistency with the collective art practice adopted by Xiamen Dada. They focus on dematerialization and conceptualization of artwork,criticizing institutional art galleries while reflecting on traditional cultural concept and form. As for Huang,he was part of a variety of extreme art activities,including remodeling,damaging and burning,exerting a strong impact on people’s conceptual understanding. At the same time,his work contains a deep philosophical sense,soon becoming a world re-known artist in the contemporary art field. If we were able to label every artist based on his artwork,“paradox” would be the word to describe Huang. Huang’s works always seem to include a collection of paradoxes,east and west,tradition and modern,art and religion,realism and super-realism,etc. Huang acts as a calm bystander and thinker,uses miniaturizing,copying and grafting to express the transition,combination and even reformation of “meaning”. Therefore,Huang prefers using unfixed symbols,regardless if it is from culture,religion,politics or reality. Using those provides a wider and a more free space for expression. The final aim of Huang’s creation is to try his very best to express and reproduce “meaning”. Using different ways of expressions is a way of creating art,also contributes to his artistic charm.
It is safe to say,for all Huang’s art pieces,this duo-identity and contrast can be observed everywhere. Just like the solution he used to clearly point out,“I am residing in the west,yet not a westerner. I am using a culture that I am familiar with as my inspiration,yet not living in this culture. This dilemma creates 2 dimensions in my artwork.”
In 1999,Huang created “One Man,Nine Animals” for Biennale of Venice. He made use of the spirit beasts,an iconic role in mountain and sea classics,placing them on top of pillars as totems. Thus,although Huang copies and reforms eastern elements in terms of the origin of the beast images and the material selected for pillars,when they are placed in the exhibition hall collectively,viewers would relate it to the western architecture by instinct. After awhile,when viewers realize the beasts placed on top is from the mysterious east,it makes it misfit the surroundings. This is when a sense of eastern magic develops,like a spellbound.