River of Inferno YIU NGOK YUEN

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "River of Inferno YIU NGOK YUEN"

Antony Charles
5 years ago
Views:

1 River of Inferno YIU NGOK YUEN

2 River of Inferno YIU NGOK YUEN Alas, my homeland, you are cold and dark, and plagued with rampant fratricides. Yiu-Ngok Yuen, private journal The exhibition, River of Inferno, celebrates a selection of paintings by the Chinese-American artist, Yiu-Ngok Yuen, produced during his final years in self-exile from his native China. Aptly titled by the artist, the series takes viewers on a critical journey through the fallout from China s twentieth century political and cultural transformations. Guided by Yuen s artistic imagery, we ride the tumultuous waves like Dante who, in his Divine Comedy, is led by the poet Virgil over the River Styx. Tragically, the immoral circles of Dante s Inferno echo all too clearly in the subjects and layers of history embedded in Yuen s neo-expressionist paintings. Yuen s Chinese biography reveals a complicated and shifting landscape of cultural experience, beginning with civil war between the Nationalists and Communists. It continues with Mao Zedong s victory and the establishment of The People s Republic of China and its Cultural Revolution, culminating with the rise of Deng Xiaoping s push for Modernization, his Open Door Policy and economic reforms. Yuen eventually reached a crucial tipping point regarding his allegiance to his homeland s political realities. It became apparent that his faith in Maoism was built on false ideals. Like Pablo Picasso, who chose selfexile during General Franco s fascist regime in Spain, Yuen lived outside his homeland in later life, watching at a distance as political events intermingling hope and despair unfolded. Of perhaps greatest significance were the events of June, 4, 1989 in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Visiting the United States at the time, Yuen watched via television as scenes depicting the brutal treatment of innocent students unfolded in China. He subsequently joined a protest in Washington DC and traveled back to Hong Kong, concerned over the security of his paintings and family s estate. In the end, he and his fellow Chinese citizens were left with political tragedy. Born of privilege, Yuen took to Mao s Communist cause enthusiastically, renouncing his familial past and committing to an ideology touting equity, fairness and respect for the conditions of culture and labor. In the late 1950s, he and his colleagues at the Academy volunteered for work in the countryside, supporting the Communist party during the Great Famine as part of an effort to revitalize the country. A decade later, he would return again as part of the collective effort to purge the country of non-communist ideology during the Cultural Revolution. Detail of Apparition (showing Deng Xiaoping), , oil on canvas, 172 x 200 cm.

3 But the River of Inferno series was born from earlier influences. The road that led the artist to paint the most provocative and controversial works of his career grew out of artistic and social histories spanning back decades. Yuen was born at a unique crossroads, just prior to the fervent zeal of hegemonic Communist ideology. He absorbed foreign artistic influences during the tail end of an era open to outside cultural influences. Oil painting was new to China and in Yuen s skillful hands, his six decades of artistic experimentation in the medium attest to his important position as an innovator in modern Chinese art history. Artistically, the River of Inferno series grew out of Yuen s long admiration for European oil painting, something the artist was forced to repress during his time teaching in China under Maoist rule. During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards confiscated many portrait paintings (except for the 1962 self-portrait that is featured in this exhibition; the artist folded and hid it under his bed). Only a handful of others were later returned to him, including portraits of his wife and his daughter. The others were destroyed or went missing, never to be recovered. Visiting the Louvre in the early 1980s, Yuen observed works of art firsthand that he had studied and admired since his youth. The historically powerful subjects and dramatically charged compositions he encountered renewed his interest in the European academic style and its artistic vocabulary formed the basis for the representation of subject matter in the River of Inferno series. The four paintings on view in this exhibition stand together as a holistic summary of Yuen s artistic achievements in self-exile. His self-portrait, in homage to Baroque painters such as Rembrandt, is both a visual celebration of the artist s self-image and a way of ensuring his vicarious presence in an exhibition he dreamed of witnessing but was denied because of political complications. Studio 1990 ( ) displays Yuen s virtuoso draftsmanship and speaks to his influence from politically active European avant-garde artists such as Detail of Studio 1990 s: The Painter and his Characters (showing Mao Zedong), , charcoal on canvas, 200 x 440 cm. Gustave Courbet. River of Inferno ( ) and Reunion in Hades ( ) critique the fallout of two phases of Chinese political and cultural history personal to the artist s life. Both paintings capture the expressivity of brushstroke common to the European-American neo-expressionist style and incorporate contemporary painting strategies of appropriation and the use of satire as subjective critique. Their visual message is forceful and accusatory, making explicit the tensions, problems and consequences arising in modern Chinese history when intersectional and transnational dynamics disrupted longstanding traditions. Yuen did not want these final works to be read only as a critique of modern Chinese political and cultural movements. Rather, they hold a struggle in tension between what at that time were strongly polarized ideologies defined by East/West relations. Today such boundaries are critiqued, complicated or bypassed by globalization, yet injustices carried out by dominant nations, cultural groups and social organizations remain. As such, Yuen s paintings not only point a critical eye to a specific past, but also reflect a certain appearance of humanity today, within a mirror still clouded by privilege, corruption and exploitation.

4 At the time Yuen wrote about River of Inferno, his new country (he became a U.S. citizen in 2000) was riding an optimistic wave, one where the first African-American was elected to the Presidency of the United States. Yuen wrote that, the execution of my artistic ideals can only be realized in the United State of America, a country with highly developed democracy, proven by the just finished presidential election, a country with great diversity and tolerance in its societal and cultural environment, a country composed of great people with kindness and wisdom. What remains now is the uncertainty of whether these ideals, expressed in Yuen s momentary optimism, will persist and not recycle the recent historical dialectics his painting preserve. Yuen asked that the River of Inferno series be guarded from commodity exploitation, requesting they be carefully placed so the public could view them and asking that they not be sold as private acquisitions. This gesture is perhaps most salient in summing up the artist s intentions and legacy. One cannot place a price on a heart. Jonathan Wallis, PhD Curator of the exhibition The River Inferno, , oil on canvas, 200 x 292 cm.

5 Above: Studio 1990 s: The Painter and his Characters, , charcoal on canvas, 200 x 440 cm. Apparition, , oil on canvas, 172 x 200 cm.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Yiu-Ngok Yuen (December 25, 1931-April 12, 2009) was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, China in 1931.

6 ABOUT THE ARTIST Yiu-Ngok Yuen (December 25, 1931-April 12, 2009) was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, China in As a child, he learned the art of calligraphy from his father and grew up holding a brush. His formal art training began at Chaozhou School of Fine Arts, followed by a year at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts (1948). From , he attended the prestigious Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts and went on to serve as Professor in the Oil Painting Department from Many of his works during this period depicting Maoist subjects and political figures were published widely in State-run newspapers and exhibitions. Yuen s artistic pursuits and teaching were interrupted during the ten-year Culture Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. He and his fellow faculty lived in the rural countryside for about three years, participating in reeducation programs as part of a string of revolutionary movements across all social and political levels, specifically the complete reform activities in education systems. In 1978, Yuen was given a career retrospective at the Academy that displayed his work individually for the first time and brought him to the attention of the art world in China. In 1980, due to his disillusionment with the Chinese government, Yuen made the difficult decision to leave his home country, first living in Hong Kong and Singapore, and eventually in self-exile in the United States. During this period, Yuen was invited as a visiting artist at both Shanghai University and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and traveled through Europe ( ), visiting over 38 countries. Settling in Blue Bell, PA in 1994, Yuen continued and completed his final artistic series, River of Inferno, that he started while in Singapore. Reflecting on his life experience in China and inspired by the style and impact of European history paintings freed from political constraints, Yuen produced the dramatic and uniquely critical body of work under the democratic conditions of the United States. Yiu-Ngok Yuen: River of Inferno presented as part of Moore s Faculty Triennial Exhibition on view January 26 March 16, 2019 is curated by Jonathan Wallis, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History and Curatorial Studies. Funding for the research and curatorial development of this exhibition was provided by Moore College of Art & Design and made possible with the support of Tan Yuen, Yiu-Ngok Yuen s daughter. Above: Self Portrait, 1962, oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm. Cover: detail of The River Inferno, , oil on canvas, 200 x 292 cm. MOORE COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN 1916 Race Street /// Philadelphia, PA (215) /// galleries@moore.edu thegalleriesatmoore.org /// VISIT US Monday through Saturday 11am 5pm

Huihan Liu paints vibrant portraits of landscapes and cultures from Tibet and the Western U.S.

Huihan Liu paints vibrant portraits of landscapes and cultures from Tibet and the Western U.S. Tibetan Prayer Flags Oil on Canvas 30 x 10 inches school in Guangzhou. My father was not a typical Chinese