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Poignant exhibition celebrates artistic polymath
Print Edition
IT’S a rare occurrence that an artist isn’t there for the opening of his own solo exhibition. But attending the recent “Sidewalk” at Xuhui Art Museum proved impossible for Yang Xu, as the 48-year-old is seriously ill in hospital.
While Yang may not be a familiar name to the wider public, he is a well-known figure in the local art community.
Born in Shanghai in 1967, Yang graduated from the middle school affiliated to the Fine Art College of Shanghai University and was later admitted to the environment design department at Shanghai University.
Yang said his interest in art dates back to when he was a small boy and idolized Renaissance masters Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
From these beginnings, Yang became an admired and influential figure in the city art scene, and many of his friends from his school days and the art community were behind the show.
“That’s why we organized this special exhibition for him, as we thought that he is an art genius and his achievements need to be exposed to the public,” said Niu An, one of Yang’s middle school classmates.
“The 24 members in the organizing committee are all his middle school and university classmates. We hope that the exhibition will be a unique gift and blessing for him to overcome his disease.”
The exhibition features ink-and-wash works created by Yang after he was diagnosed of cancer in 2012, plus the examples of his interior architecture designs in the past decade.
Another highlight is Yang’s “newspaper paintings” featuring drawings, paintings Chinese characters and collages on newspaper pages.
The artist was seen as an innovator in China’s avant-garde.
“Yang was a pioneer in China’s 1985 Art New Wave Movement,” said Tang Guangming, curator of the exhibition.
“His newspaper painting with Zhou Tiehai, forecast later political pop work in China’s contemporary art history,” said Tang.
While Zhou has since become a major artist, was director of Shanghai’s Minsheng Art Museum and director of the SH Contemporary art fair, Yang chose a different path. Yang focused on interior architecture design against the backdrop of fast-paced urban development.
The exhibition also displays his talents in this area through projects he worked on. These included villas, restaurants, boutiques and clubs.
These show impressive characteristics in the use of space and detail, such as Qianxiangge Restaurant in the Pudong New Area.
But Yang was also thinking bigger and in 2005 proposed the project “Reform the Suburbs of the Cities” attempting to provide better and functional blueprint for residents living in the belts between the city and countryside, long ignored by the city planners.
He also founded the First Bamboo Architecture Biennale in Longquan in neighboring Zhejiang Province. In October, it brought together world famous interior architecture designers to discuss the possibilities offered by bamboo as a building material and how it complements rural landscapes.
But the focus of the exhibition is Yang’s realistic ink wash and pen wash works, conveying the artist’s understanding of life and death, art and life.
His pen wash work entitled “Chemo Scape” was created in a state of semi-consciousness, Yang said.
“That day, I lay on the bed for chemotherapy. Although my body lay in the cancer ward, my mind was elsewhere in a pastoral reverie. Through the sunset, as if in a trance, I saw on the surface of the inverted intravenous bottle a landscape of verdant hills and a glittering lake, a riot of blossoms and branches entwined in a harmony.”
These images that comforted the artist on his hospital bed, evoke a sense of stillness and tranquility.
And while Yang said they were created solely for himself, these qualities were also appreciated by art lovers at the show.
“There is a kind of serenity emanating from his works,” said Cai Wei, a forty-something visitor to the exhibition. “A friend recommended that I come to the show, and I want to collect one of his works that are showcased here.”
“My salute to this artist, who has excelled in so many fields,” added Cai.
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