Yang Yong

YangYong, Panning Golden Handle, Oil on Canvas, 145x179cm, 2023

Tang Contemporary Art presents 《 My Realm – 2024 Yang Yong Solo Exhibition 》, featuring the Chinese artist Yang Yong, known to us through the 2002 Gwangju Biennale and the 2003 Venice Biennale special exhibitions, from June 7 to July 13, 2024.

《 My Realm – 2024 Yang Yong Solo Exhibition 》 showcases Yang Yong’s oeuvre from 2008 including his recent “Velocity-Limit Edition” series. Born in the 1970s and experiencing the era of openness and urbanization in China, Yang Yong has focused his art on observing the social whirlwind of changes and the gaps between reality and transformation. As a multimedia artist, he employs diverse approaches depending on the environment to reflect scenes of globalized realities through painted images. This exhibition aims to stimulate inquiries into the ontology and meaning of the ‘in-between’ spaces for individuals who share the same era.

YangYong, Velocity Limit Edition Azure Sky, Oil on Canvas, 180x120cm, 2023

“2024-Memories-No.1” and “2024-Memories-No.2” depict scenes reminiscent of a movie still, presenting two people with a mattress and cushions covered, and a pillow with a man lying his head on it. The artworks feature the artist himself and his old friend from the 1990s, which reinterpret his nostalgic emotions from old photographs into various media. Through his transformation of expression, transitioning from photography to painting, Yang Yong explores the shifts between media, creating spaces of time and emotion and generating new sentiments and thoughts within these ‘in-between’ moments.

YangYong, Memories No.1, Oil on Canvas, 133x200cm, 2024

The artist collects rapidly consumed mass media images such as high-heeled shoes on a woman’s feet, a woman in a red dress opening a European-style door handle, palm trees, or crumpled packaging. He deconstructs and reassembles those common images by selecting, magnifying, and cropping them. Through this process, complete images are fragmented into various parts, existing independently like individual cells. These images use metaphors that encapsulate attributes of daily life and societal situations, encouraging viewers to delve deeper into their thoughts and engage in discussions about society.

YangYong, Memories No.2, Oil on Canvas, 133x200cm, 2024

In contrast to the serene depiction of the external world in the pit lane and the airflow sensed within the racing circuit as reflected in the racer’s helmet, the artist’s painting style evokes an intriguing atmosphere. The racing imagery in Yang Yong’s “Velocity-Limit” series emphasizes fleeting moments. The fascination and fantasy of racing, combining adrenaline-inducing speed, glamour, competition, victory, technology, and innovation, resonate with our attraction to the splendor of a rapidly changing society.

His contemplation on society and systems is calmly yet vividly conveyed through the sensation of precarious tension portrayed in the fast-paced imagery. While the term ‘speed limit’ typically refers to regulations on the speed range, the term chooses to translate this concept as ‘velocity limit’; blending ‘velocity’, symbolizing speed, and ‘limit’, suggesting restriction. Though commonly associated with financial transactions, denoting maximum amounts or numbers within a specified period, the artist employs it metaphorically. Through screens filled with high-speed motion and witty wordplay, he hints at a life where control is elusive amidst rapid change, sparking reflections on personal freedom, societal constraints, consumer culture, exclusion, and contemporary societal values.

Through his first solo exhibition in Korea, 《 My Realm – 2024 Yang Yong Solo Exhibition 》, Yang Yong invites us to experience and contemplate the moments ‘in-between’, encouraging shared reflection on the meaning of ‘in-between’ within today’s rapidly changing society.

Tang Contemporary Art
B2, 6, Apgujeong-ro 75-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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