“Yellow” at Pace Gallery in London is the first solo exhibition of work by Chinese painter Wang Guangle in Europe.
According to Pace, Wang’s work is rooted in questions of painting’s temporality and the canvas as a vessel of labor and marker of time.
“Yellow” features a selection of recent paintings by the artist that evince what is described as “the spirit and style of his work from the past decade.”
The exhibition takes its title from Wang’s use of yellow in his work, which is particularly evident in his “Untitled” series.
In addition to the “Untitled” series, Wang’s other main bodies of work are his “Coffin” paintings and his “Terrazo” paintings.
The “Terrazo” works take inspiration from the eponymous floor tiles, “Untitled” is a series of rectangular field paintings, and the striped “Coffin” paintings are created by a process of layering.
To find out more about the exhibition at Pace and his overall practice, BLOUIN ARTINFO got in touch with the artist and asked him a few questions.
The title of your first solo exhibition in Europe at Pace London is “Yellow.” What is the significance of the title in the context of the works on show and what does the title reveal and suggest about the works in the exhibition? Why Yellow?
I specially painted five yellow “Untitled” works for this exhibition, and this is the reason why I named this exhibition “Yellow.” Just like you have painted a still painting of an apple and name it “Apple.” Pace London’s “white cube” space is quite special to me - it is not a normal white cube space of the Industrial Era but classic. The symmetry of my paintings has the same classic character, then I need to use a color that echoes the color tone of the space, and naturally I chose bright yellow. Most of my solo exhibitions are named “Wang Guangle,” but this is my first solo show in Europe, so still naming the show as “Wang Guangle” is pretty much like naming it “Untitled” - who will know Wang Guangle? Of course when I am painting I prefer titles like “Untitled”, which does not have much directivity but focus on the work itself more. However, exhibition and painting are different, and visitors are different for the painting in studio and in a gallery - in studio, not everyone will stop and look at the works. Then why not applying a title on the exhibition to lead and confuse imagination?
While I was creating these works, all the meaning of color yellow were connected, such as “yellow skin,” “exotic” in Chinese culture, but the most surprising meaning to me is the meaning of “timid” in English language. Coldplay has a song, “Yellow,” which is also popular in China for decades. I myself sometimes hum it too. Before these yellow Untitled paintings were going to London, I thought about this song and looked up online for what this song is about. By coincidence, the Chinese translator of the lyric is my friends Yao Chien, who used to be Director of EMI Records in China. He translated yellow in this song as “timid”. I had a lot of imaginations out of it. From the realistic point of view, Asian people (here referring to people whose skin tone is yellow) always give others the impression of coward, timid and afraid to cause trouble. Especially cowardliness shouldn’t be brought to the table. If yellow has the meaning of timid and cowardliness, then through this exhibition as entitled yellow, it could also contain my concept of making art: patience. It is the reaction after realizing the repetition of life as its nature, and the compliance of life through the awareness of time. Back to the song, “Yellow,” I understood this song before knowing the Chinese lyrics. It didn’t bother me.
The works in Yellow are said to evince spirit and style of your work from the past decade. Could you describe the spirit and style of your work from the past decade and explain how your work has developed and progressed over this period?
“Coffin Paint” series started in 2006, and “Untitled” series started in 2009 - I am still working on both series. For me, if according to “formalism art,” I am more conceptual, but if to “conceptual art,” I am more formalism. My style is in between, which need to be minimal in formation but with an expression of emotion. It contains both feeling and expressing. I always believe that art comes from real life, and people need to express their understanding of survival. On the premise of feeling from survival to me, my spirit and style of my work is to pursuit the minimal of style, and to express myself through less elements and words.
Process and layering are the keys to your practice. What influences and inspires the different processes and techniques that you use and how do you determine the process and technique that you will need to execute a particular work?
From the earlier “Coffin Paint” series, I established the theme of “time” by the technique of repeating. The painting process reminds me of the burial tradition that was customary for the elderly to cope with their impending mortality by acquiring a casket and adding a coat of paint every year until the elderly pass away in my hometown. I think this behavior is a good preparation for the death that also signifies the will written to one. It provides me both content and technique in working - I imitate the time passing method with applying layers of acrylic on the canvas, each stroke of paint which left on the side of the frame signifies a moment in time. Repetition is the basic process of my practice, and every process is preset. However, just like our unpredictable life, as in the Chinese saying, “changes always go faster than plans.” The process of layering will be different by the size of the works, the texture and toughness of the canvas, the thickness of the paint, or the humidity of weather and others unpredictable factors. To face these factors there are techniques required. But normally I don’t take much in count about technique. I think technique is a status generated from aesthetic, and I believe that each stroke of painting determines the next, and I never worry about my next step.
The exhibition includes works from your Coffin and Untitled series. Could you explain the motivation and nature of each series and how it relates to your wider practice and the signature characteristics and nature of your work?
Until now, the three major series of my works can be described as point, line, and plane in formation. They look totally different but the implied meanings are the same, and all themes are about repetition, process and time, and death, self and control derived from them.
Terrazzo started in 2002 when I recently graduated from university. I felt the anxiety in China due to the rapidly developed and fast-pace lifestyle. To be specific, everyone seems racing to tomorrow. My conclusion to this is: it’s the same as when you tried to recall the old times in a slowly developed era in China, always unsatisfied about today. I didn’t like myself being unstable and this experience sucks. I hoped myself can be unconditionally peaceful, and it just so happens that my house’s floor was made by terrazzo, and I believed I could find-back my soul by imitating them slowly. So I did until now, and I can control myself better. Terrazzo in Chinese can be understood as a motion which means water polishes the stone to flat. It also echoes a Chinese saying “constant water dropping wears the stone.” This saying means that if you have the perseverance, even a soft object can go through a hard one. Moreover, after “Culture Revolution,” terrazzo has been widely used from public areas to private rural residences in China. I see it as a symbol of the single-ideology period, especially when it was replaced by ceramic tiles in the 90s, like overnight. At that time I felt I need to face everything based on the realistic of this kind of changing.
China has been struggling to be modernized for the past century; from to be westernized till to realize that the nation has to resolve its tradition, and this progress is far from ending. The concept of the “Coffin Paint” series is based on how I modernize a vanished burial tradition. A person’s attitude when making the determinate decision to face its own and lone death, and be able to undertake the uniqueness and individuality of his/her own, thus to enter to a real state of living. The meaning of time is an attitude that connect one’s future and past that make one consistent. I need to use a never-before form to describe the thoughts. If I used any existing forms, it would attach an existing meaning in some kind.
“Untitled” series is more about the painting itself. Any kind of formation will “die,” and this is why the traditional formation is hard to sustain the concept of eternity.
You work what seems to be a contradictory fusion of abstraction with real materials, spaces and textures. How do you reconcile abstraction with real materials, spaces, and textures in your work?
I have never seen myself as an abstract artist. In China, there is no real modern art, and I don’t have the foundation of abstract art. However, art is always happened among the classics. I don’t really care if these works are abstract art, so I don’t know the contradictory of abstraction with these characters - abstraction and those factors are not what I care the most. When I see life from the dimension of time, everything I experience in a day only occupies a certain period of time. I see the repetition of life and that is what I care about the most. The expression, materials, spaces and textures will come along naturally after this. Although my works don’t have recognizable form, it is still from the reality. My favorite artist, Song Dong, called it Realistic Abstraction. I also think this paradoxical naming is more proper.
Resource: http://www.blouinartinfo.com
According to Pace, Wang’s work is rooted in questions of painting’s temporality and the canvas as a vessel of labor and marker of time.
“Yellow” features a selection of recent paintings by the artist that evince what is described as “the spirit and style of his work from the past decade.”
The exhibition takes its title from Wang’s use of yellow in his work, which is particularly evident in his “Untitled” series.
In addition to the “Untitled” series, Wang’s other main bodies of work are his “Coffin” paintings and his “Terrazo” paintings.
The “Terrazo” works take inspiration from the eponymous floor tiles, “Untitled” is a series of rectangular field paintings, and the striped “Coffin” paintings are created by a process of layering.
To find out more about the exhibition at Pace and his overall practice, BLOUIN ARTINFO got in touch with the artist and asked him a few questions.
The title of your first solo exhibition in Europe at Pace London is “Yellow.” What is the significance of the title in the context of the works on show and what does the title reveal and suggest about the works in the exhibition? Why Yellow?
I specially painted five yellow “Untitled” works for this exhibition, and this is the reason why I named this exhibition “Yellow.” Just like you have painted a still painting of an apple and name it “Apple.” Pace London’s “white cube” space is quite special to me - it is not a normal white cube space of the Industrial Era but classic. The symmetry of my paintings has the same classic character, then I need to use a color that echoes the color tone of the space, and naturally I chose bright yellow. Most of my solo exhibitions are named “Wang Guangle,” but this is my first solo show in Europe, so still naming the show as “Wang Guangle” is pretty much like naming it “Untitled” - who will know Wang Guangle? Of course when I am painting I prefer titles like “Untitled”, which does not have much directivity but focus on the work itself more. However, exhibition and painting are different, and visitors are different for the painting in studio and in a gallery - in studio, not everyone will stop and look at the works. Then why not applying a title on the exhibition to lead and confuse imagination?
While I was creating these works, all the meaning of color yellow were connected, such as “yellow skin,” “exotic” in Chinese culture, but the most surprising meaning to me is the meaning of “timid” in English language. Coldplay has a song, “Yellow,” which is also popular in China for decades. I myself sometimes hum it too. Before these yellow Untitled paintings were going to London, I thought about this song and looked up online for what this song is about. By coincidence, the Chinese translator of the lyric is my friends Yao Chien, who used to be Director of EMI Records in China. He translated yellow in this song as “timid”. I had a lot of imaginations out of it. From the realistic point of view, Asian people (here referring to people whose skin tone is yellow) always give others the impression of coward, timid and afraid to cause trouble. Especially cowardliness shouldn’t be brought to the table. If yellow has the meaning of timid and cowardliness, then through this exhibition as entitled yellow, it could also contain my concept of making art: patience. It is the reaction after realizing the repetition of life as its nature, and the compliance of life through the awareness of time. Back to the song, “Yellow,” I understood this song before knowing the Chinese lyrics. It didn’t bother me.
The works in Yellow are said to evince spirit and style of your work from the past decade. Could you describe the spirit and style of your work from the past decade and explain how your work has developed and progressed over this period?
“Coffin Paint” series started in 2006, and “Untitled” series started in 2009 - I am still working on both series. For me, if according to “formalism art,” I am more conceptual, but if to “conceptual art,” I am more formalism. My style is in between, which need to be minimal in formation but with an expression of emotion. It contains both feeling and expressing. I always believe that art comes from real life, and people need to express their understanding of survival. On the premise of feeling from survival to me, my spirit and style of my work is to pursuit the minimal of style, and to express myself through less elements and words.
Process and layering are the keys to your practice. What influences and inspires the different processes and techniques that you use and how do you determine the process and technique that you will need to execute a particular work?
From the earlier “Coffin Paint” series, I established the theme of “time” by the technique of repeating. The painting process reminds me of the burial tradition that was customary for the elderly to cope with their impending mortality by acquiring a casket and adding a coat of paint every year until the elderly pass away in my hometown. I think this behavior is a good preparation for the death that also signifies the will written to one. It provides me both content and technique in working - I imitate the time passing method with applying layers of acrylic on the canvas, each stroke of paint which left on the side of the frame signifies a moment in time. Repetition is the basic process of my practice, and every process is preset. However, just like our unpredictable life, as in the Chinese saying, “changes always go faster than plans.” The process of layering will be different by the size of the works, the texture and toughness of the canvas, the thickness of the paint, or the humidity of weather and others unpredictable factors. To face these factors there are techniques required. But normally I don’t take much in count about technique. I think technique is a status generated from aesthetic, and I believe that each stroke of painting determines the next, and I never worry about my next step.
The exhibition includes works from your Coffin and Untitled series. Could you explain the motivation and nature of each series and how it relates to your wider practice and the signature characteristics and nature of your work?
Until now, the three major series of my works can be described as point, line, and plane in formation. They look totally different but the implied meanings are the same, and all themes are about repetition, process and time, and death, self and control derived from them.
Terrazzo started in 2002 when I recently graduated from university. I felt the anxiety in China due to the rapidly developed and fast-pace lifestyle. To be specific, everyone seems racing to tomorrow. My conclusion to this is: it’s the same as when you tried to recall the old times in a slowly developed era in China, always unsatisfied about today. I didn’t like myself being unstable and this experience sucks. I hoped myself can be unconditionally peaceful, and it just so happens that my house’s floor was made by terrazzo, and I believed I could find-back my soul by imitating them slowly. So I did until now, and I can control myself better. Terrazzo in Chinese can be understood as a motion which means water polishes the stone to flat. It also echoes a Chinese saying “constant water dropping wears the stone.” This saying means that if you have the perseverance, even a soft object can go through a hard one. Moreover, after “Culture Revolution,” terrazzo has been widely used from public areas to private rural residences in China. I see it as a symbol of the single-ideology period, especially when it was replaced by ceramic tiles in the 90s, like overnight. At that time I felt I need to face everything based on the realistic of this kind of changing.
China has been struggling to be modernized for the past century; from to be westernized till to realize that the nation has to resolve its tradition, and this progress is far from ending. The concept of the “Coffin Paint” series is based on how I modernize a vanished burial tradition. A person’s attitude when making the determinate decision to face its own and lone death, and be able to undertake the uniqueness and individuality of his/her own, thus to enter to a real state of living. The meaning of time is an attitude that connect one’s future and past that make one consistent. I need to use a never-before form to describe the thoughts. If I used any existing forms, it would attach an existing meaning in some kind.
“Untitled” series is more about the painting itself. Any kind of formation will “die,” and this is why the traditional formation is hard to sustain the concept of eternity.
You work what seems to be a contradictory fusion of abstraction with real materials, spaces and textures. How do you reconcile abstraction with real materials, spaces, and textures in your work?
I have never seen myself as an abstract artist. In China, there is no real modern art, and I don’t have the foundation of abstract art. However, art is always happened among the classics. I don’t really care if these works are abstract art, so I don’t know the contradictory of abstraction with these characters - abstraction and those factors are not what I care the most. When I see life from the dimension of time, everything I experience in a day only occupies a certain period of time. I see the repetition of life and that is what I care about the most. The expression, materials, spaces and textures will come along naturally after this. Although my works don’t have recognizable form, it is still from the reality. My favorite artist, Song Dong, called it Realistic Abstraction. I also think this paradoxical naming is more proper.
Resource: http://www.blouinartinfo.com
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