Yang Fudong's New Wave Shadow

Things have changed. At present, many young artists in China have turned from traditional painting art to photography and computer, and upgraded their works with digital technology. The new generation who graduated from art colleges have changed the domestic art environment with various video equipment, and at the same time left their own marks in the digital age.

A large number of talented new media artists have emerged: Chi Peng, Xu Zhen, Hong Lei, Wang, Wang Jianwei, and, of course, Zhang Peili, the "father of China image", and Yang Fudong, a Shanghai image artist, who are only 35 years old, have become the darlings of the international art stage.

With beautiful and emotional images, the alienation of urban intellectuals and young people in a rapidly changing society is recorded. Yang Fudong has become a leader among post-80s video artists.

Paris curator Hans Julius Oberist called him "brilliant". Christophe Phillip, curator of new york Photography International Center, thinks his works are "striking", while Adrian Siller, an art critic, even commented that his works are "touching, mysterious, with unforgettable images and music".

Yang Fudong is the third China artist shortlisted for the Guggenheim Hugo Boss Contemporary Art Award. Prior to this, Cai Guoqiang and Huang Yongping won this award with 1996 and 1998 respectively. He was also nominated as an outstanding young artist by China Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) established by collector Uli Hick. Yang Fudong's leap stems from his Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest Part I (2003), which describes the anxiety of young people and the ups and downs of intellectuals, and makes the international art world remember his name. "Unlike many other artists of his age, Yang Fudong seems to know exactly what he wants to do." Christopher Phillips of new york International Photography Center said.

The famous Yang Fudong became the cover figure of the winter/spring issue of Japanese art magazine Art iT》2006, and Art of America introduced his works more widely. In 2002, The New York Times commented that Yang Fudong "stood at the center of the digital whirlwind in China". When many first-class art critics and artists talk about him, they also put him in the forefront of China's current artists-perhaps one of the important 10 artists.

These may be too many compliments for him. Yang Fudong speaks very gently. The artist, with long hair hanging down his shoulders, still looks a little childish. While studying oil painting at China Academy of Fine Arts, he began to dabble in photography. In 20 13, one of his works sold for 30,000 dollars.

Yang Fudong was entrusted to shoot a short film for his mobile phone, and Ai Weiwei and Feng were invited to accompany him.

Different from other artists' works, everyone who describes Yang Fudong feels that it is not easy to understand his works, and he knows this-because he usually blurs his creative motives and ideas, and the information revealed in his narrative films is often ambiguous.

Critics believe that Yang Fudong focuses on the role of intellectuals-most of them are lost in modern society and pushed to the edge of society-and through them, he shows China's traditional culture trampled by the modernization frenzy. At the same time, critics also believe that his works show young people's confusion and powerlessness about their times-which is far from the idealism of young people and artists in the 1980 s and their firm belief in changing the world.

Yang Fudong confirmed this view when talking about his peers. In an interview with Hans Julius O 'Briest, he said: "Everyone wants to do great things, but in the end they always get nowhere. Every educated person is ambitious, even though they know that there are various obstacles-those obstacles either come from the society at that time or from themselves. In The First Intellectual, the young man was injured and blood ran down his face. He wanted to react and resist, but he didn't know who to throw the brick at. He doesn't know whether he has problems or society has problems. "

Yang Fudong's role is generally to look rich and carefree, just like the fashionable young people in China today. They don't care much about their social responsibilities, and they don't try to change anything. Instead, I am addicted to my inner self-thinking and feelings, wandering in my dreams and fantasies, and even fantasizing.

For example, his 35mm black-and-white movie Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest. Yang Fudong set the scene in the misty Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province. The scenery is beautiful and mysterious, and the audience and the characters in the film can't help but forget it. A young woman dressed in western-style clothes in the early 20th century said in meditation, "When I stood on the top of the mountain and was surrounded by approaching clouds and dense fog, I felt as if I were flying in the air. I have an impulse to fly and jump. I want to bathe in the misty sea of Yunshan and die there. I really don't care. "

When asked how to describe his works, he admitted that he deliberately set up traditional beautiful scenes to set off the lonely and empty inner world of the characters.

He once explained his film like this: "This is an illusion. I like to express such an artistic conception-very calm and beautiful, but at the same time weird and annoying, just like in a dream. " But at ordinary times, he chose to keep his mouth shut, rarely mentioning the meaning of the work or the double meaning behind it.

In fact, although he admits that he is concerned about the state of intellectuals, he does not consider himself a serious intellectual. He likes simplicity and self-thinking. "I think' intellectuals' have many meanings in Chinese. The intellectuals I understand are people who are educated or have their own ideas. In this sense, I am also an intellectual. My intellectuals refer to educated and thoughtful people, but they are more like ordinary people. " He said in an interview at his home in Shanghai.

Yang Fudong is not a natural intellectual elite. He was born in a military family in Tongxian County, Beijing, and grew up in a military compound. He said that no one in his family was interested in art. His earliest hobby was sports, not art. He longed to be a football player until he was a teenager. An accident almost caused the retina in his right eye to fall off. His dream of football was shattered and he turned to painting.

Yang Fudong loved watching movies since he was a child, but he was not interested in reading. He read some philosophy books at school, but he admitted, "I'm really tired of reading." After graduating from the middle school attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, he was admitted to the Oil Painting Department of the China Academy of Fine Arts and soon began to try photography. He thinks there is not much difference between painting and photography. "This is just a moving picture." He said.

1998, the third year after graduation, he drifted from Beijing to Shanghai. While working in a company that developed game software, he continued to paint, but gradually devoted himself to photography and making movies. Recalling those days, he said that he often borrowed money from friends and colleagues in order to make works. "Everyone just graduated, and the salary is not much, but I always borrow thousands, and then it soon becomes a burden. Now think about it, I really don't understand. " However, he misses the years when he worked. "The company is very kind to me, and my colleagues are also my reliable creditors." He added with a typical Beijing accent.

In his early work "The First Intellectuals", a young white-collar worker in a suit and tie was injured with a brick in his hand, but he was at a loss. It seems that from then on, Yang Fudong decided to continue his photography and film creation with this theme.

He said that he taught himself photography and experienced repeated attempts and setbacks, but the more he shot, the more powerful he felt the camera. Partly because of his personal preference, he chose black and white photography, because "black and white photography can give you a sense of distance, which is very good."

1997, he raised $5,000 from investors and made his first film, Strange Paradise (1997-2002). Later, by chance around 2003, he bought the CD of the black-and-white film Stranger than Heaven by independent director jim jarmusch with similar style. I think his films are much better than mine. Then I filmed the back room, hey, it's dawn! (200 1), Liu Lan (2003), Honey (2003) and Snake Recovery (2005).

Most of his films have complicated stories-young people sing their ambitions and ideals, and detectives stage suspense dramas in which intellectuals are killed in the countryside ... Most of the characters in the films are pensive and melancholy, sometimes their bodies are incomplete, but more often they are obviously traumatized.

His famous work, the ——35mm black-and-white feature film Seven Sages in the Bamboo Forest, is based on the story of seven famous people fleeing and hiding in the bamboo forest in Wei and Jin Dynasties. This film was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2003. In the film, elegant people stroll on the misty Huangshan Mountain, dressed luxuriously and leisurely, but their performance style is very strange, sometimes even like deliberately fiddling before taking pictures. They seem confident, but at a loss, seemingly beautiful, but without a goal. Yang Fudong invited friends to record background music, which enhanced the mystery of the film.

Although the picture looks quite surreal, Yang Fudong said he didn't use special cameras or special effects. "It's all Huangshan, and it won't always be so beautiful. I waited for many days for a suitable shooting morning until it appeared. " Many critics are fascinated by Yang Fudong's works, saying that he is one of the most original artists in China.

Lippi, a famous curator, once wrote: "In his films, I didn't see a world I was not familiar with, despite the brand of today. And the protagonist is a little fragile rather than arrogant. They are a group of young people living in a city where nothing important has happened. They are a little greedy, a little suspicious, with vague aesthetic views and ambiguous attitudes towards life. This is the' southern useless literati' that Yang Fudong is committed to presenting to us. "

Some experts believe that the quality and appearance of Yang Fudong's films, rigid actors and utopian performances make his works unique. Almost all the characters in his works are pacing mechanically in life, always looking for and wandering; They seem to be asking: "What era am I in? What world am I in? How did I get here? " However, the characters in the play wear costumes with different characteristics of the times, which makes the audience confused and makes the audience unable to answer.

Christopher Phillips of new york International Photography Center has been paying attention to Yang Fudong's works since 1999. He thinks that art critics ignore some essential things when commenting on Yang Fudong's works.

"I think Yang Fudong is imitating some classical and traditional things in his own way, which makes many critics extremely confused. But these are just Yang Fudong's attempts and will not be consistently reflected in his works. But this is a good attempt. He is actually trying to invent a unique film language. " Philip said.

Yang Fudong said that on 20 13, he was going to complete the follow-up series of Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest. Movies will move their stage to cities, or live in modern society, or live in villages or islands. They will discover their new life through continuous excavation before returning to the city.

This is Yang Fudong's planned life. 20 13 he will continue to make art films because this is what he is good at. But he did not rule out the possibility of shooting a feature film.

"If there is an opportunity and proper sponsorship, I will also make a feature film. But I want to shoot in the way I want to shoot. You always have to guide the audience somewhere. "

No one can know where Yang Fudong will stop. After all, this rising art star in Ran Ran is only 35 years old.

(Translation: Wei Ying)