Antonio Borghese's ABC-ARTE, after opening with Marcello Lo Giudice / EARTH ARTIST, presented the second exhibition in its new expositive space in via XX settembre, Genoa: Yang Maoyuan / A LOULAN CITIZEN.
Maoyuan Yang, born in Dalian (China) in 1966, is an artist worldwide known for his vast and varied language, which includes painting, sculpture, photography and installation.Graduated in 1989 at Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts, in the same year he took part at the historical China Advan-Garde Art Exhibition, at the China Art Gallery in Beijing. In 2002 he received the CCAA award for chinese contemporary art. He has exhibited his works in cities such as Berlin, London, Shanghai, Berne and in major expositive spaces as the National Art Museum of Warsaw in Poland, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the European Center for the Arts in Dresden. His works are collected by some of the most important private and public collections around the world. This year has been selected to represent his country at the China National Pavilion of the 54. Venice Biennale. In 1994 he made two visits to the site of the ancient kingdom of Loulan, a city-state that has long served the role as a crossroads between East and West, whose ruins are now swept by the winds of the Gobi desert. Maoyuan was so impressed by the fact that these winds have on the ancient city from this experience to become a recurring theme in all his creative process: since 1996, in fact, the interaction between humans and the earth has characterized her oil paintings, which combine in dark blue sky, the land of gold and almost human bodies embedded in the ground.
The artist based in Beijing often insists also on the human body and animal shapes: the square, as in his animal skins spherical (among the most popular and well known in its production) often focuses sull'esasperazione lines physicists. In recent years, his research has also focused on the development of sculptural practice focused on issues concerning relations between the Asian and Western culture: it is enough to emphasize the choice of using a material way not widespread in China as the marble, and citing at the same time questioning the Western aesthetic. Through these operations of denial of classical form, usually made by grinding or sanding, Maoyuan introduces the contrast between the Western idea of debate and the notion of consent Confucian, an element important in the Chinese indirect communication. Decisions,in China, are usually taken by consensus to avoid conflict and ensuring that none of the parties is too unhappy with the chosen solution. The elimination of the ends of the sculptural surfaces made by Yang Maoyuan, as well as rounding of animal skins, it is this need to bring all the opinions on the same plane. In the exhibition, as well as a series of works created specially from the entire oeuvre, was presented the evocative installation shown at the Biennale "All matters are visible", composed by thousands of terra cotta cruets containing Chinese medicinal herbs.
During the opening night it was possible to buy these works, numbered, signed and accompanied by authentic, in order to support the projects of the Fund Kidney Diseases of the Child's Fund, based at the 'Division of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplant Institute G. Gaslini in Genoa. (http://www.fondomalattierenalibambino.it/) The artist attended the inauguration. Vernissage was scored by a player of Ehru, traditional Chinese musical instrument. The initiative was sponsored by the Embassy of China in Italy and enjoyed the technical sponsorship of SIAT.