The Representational & The Abstract
Nov 11, 2017 – Jan 15, 2018

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan’s solo exhibition The Representational & The Abstract opened at ShanghART West Bund space last fall. The exhibition focuses on Yu Youhan’s latest works after his retrospective exhibition at the Power Station of Art Shanghai in 2016, as well as early works seen for the first time. More than twenty sets of works from past and present are displayed on both floors of the ShanghART gallery space, on view through January 15th, 2018.

 

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan’s works are known and distinguished for three main series: abstract, pop art, and landscape. The series not only alternate in different times of his career, but also interpenetrate each other in terms of painting language. For the artist, a characteristic shared between traditional Chinese art and the impressionist Paul Cézanne is a high level of generalization. Generalization is abstraction, a way to extract subjectivity from representational objects. Abstraction has been one of the most important threads that runs through all of his paintings. His representational artworks are distinctly abstract whereas the abstract works are usually integrating figurative elements.

 

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan

After passing the age of 70, Yu Youhan, who always advocates to break free from narrowness in art-making, further develops his painting style. Various painting languages are mixed together, including the heaviness of historical elements and lightness of dynamic characters blended in abstractive images. Terracotta Army on Yimeng Mountain is a classic case where the ancient terracotta army and contemporary landscape merge across time and space, reflecting Yu Youhan’s contemplation of the developmental status of human society.

 

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan

Yu Youhan

From a set of paintings inspired by packing boxes to works of “realism” depicting the surface of the moon, the techniques used in his new works continue to capture the temperament of returning to a primal “clumsiness”. But an impressive variety is demonstrated in these new works, revealing the humorous psyche of the artist and the way he earnestly practices his philosophy of closely connecting art to life. As he said himself: “Duchamp said his life is his best art. I say my art is my best life.”

 

Yu Youhan: The Representational & The Abstract
November 11, 2017 – January 15, 2018 / ShanghART, West Bund, Shanghai
Please visit the exhibition page >

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