At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the then art center of Paris gathered artists from all over the world. In addition to immersing themselves in the studio, they spent the rest of their time wandering around cafes, taverns and various sound and color venues. These states of life are also depicted in their paintings, where a green drink, absinthe, often appears. Because of its certain hallucinogenic effect, it became the muse of the artists of the time. Nearly a hundred years later, Yan Heng set foot on the artistic homeland of Paris, and absinthe once again entered his sights and became the theme of his series of creations, revealing a different poetry and artistic essence.
Absinthe Green Muse Red Devil, Oil on Canvas Installation, 2019
Vermouth Green Muse no.2, 2018-2019
As a post-80s artist, Yan Heng has a solid foundation in painting, always adhering to figurative painting, while incorporating comprehensive materials and installations into his works. In the face of today's complex and ever-changing world, he chose to look back on the past and launched a series of creations with absinthe as the theme. His latest solo exhibition, Absinthe, is taking place at the Arario Gallery, where the artist uses the element of absinthe as a tribute to the legend of art and a reinterpretation of it. The works on display adhere to Yan Heng's consistent nostalgic gray tone, showing a sense of contradiction between the vicissitudes of time and the present years. The narrative figurative picture makes people feel a sense of substitution, wanting to plunge into one of the poetic, emotional moments.
Absinthe is a green muse, a trickster elf, or a devil. One of the works, "Absinthe • Green Muse • Red Devil", the layout of the picture is divided into two layers, above which is filled with red tones, similar to the content of graffiti board, and there is a graffiti imitating Picasso's paintings, reflecting Yan Heng's worship of past masters, and below it enters a narrative scene: in the living room with a classical atmosphere, a man wearing a shirt and vest, middle class or above collapsed on the sofa, a tree grew on the lower body, and after drinking absinthe, he caused hallucinations. Conflict is created with a strong tension.
Absinthe pont marie focuses on a sprawling living room with a fireplace, exquisite furniture and inlaid tiles that reflect the rich classical atmosphere and the taste of the owner. But it is not the nobles or the rich who are in it, there is a male lion squatting on the ground, and two falcons with hoods, they are beasts of prey, birds of prey, but they appear to be particularly obedient in the picture, or they may be forced to suppress their personalities. "Poem Porn" depicts golden animal bones scattered on a gray background; the poem porn kiko series features golden or colorful oyster shells that are pasted directly onto the picture, once a favorite food of Europe's wealthy classes, and which have long since become commonplace, and oyster shells as a symbol and metaphor for their past identity.
Yan Heng is passionate about expressing the background of classical poetry, implanting an occasional contradiction. He expresses the difference between modern civilization and primitive ecology, giving the viewer an impact, and barbarism and elegance are often symbiotic. Immersed in the green muse, the products of different artists are also kaleidoscopic. Yan Heng's artistic creation has always had coherence and context, just like one nostalgic poetic chapter after another, leading the audience to go deeper.
poem porn·kiko no.3, General Materials, 2019
q=Weekend Pictorial
a = Artist Yan Heng
q: "Absinthe" is a great muse of inspiration for artists, who love to drink absinthe and are keen to depict her. So based on your experience of staying in France in 2016, what kind of impression and feeling did you get by admiring the absinthe works of these masters up close, so that you decided to create a series of paintings around the theme of "absinthe"?
a ：
Paris, where I am based in 2016, has just experienced two terrorist attacks, and the decline of the European economy has made the social environment tense, and Paris is no stranger to everyone who studies art. Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc. are all enthusiasts of absinthe, all have related paintings with absinthe as the theme, this green muse has brought artists unlimited creative passion, I use "absinthe" as the title of the exhibition through this element through this element through the legendary stories of these artists, this batch of works is more of a rhapsody of this art history, the elements in the work in turn with the feeling left to me after the 2016 Paris terrorist attacks, Paris is a decadent beauty.
q : Looking at your work, the picture depicted has a cinematic narrative, do you want the audience to try to interpret your work from the perspective of the film story?
My paintings have always been figurative, and many elements in my works have related sources, but some of the feelings are figurative, some are abstract, some are cinematic narrative, and some of my misreadings of some things are wild.
q: There are often many old objects on the screen of your work, and the picture has gray tones and yellowish tones, revealing a sense of nostalgia. What kind of complex do you have for the past years, are you a nostalgic person?
The old is a complex, but also an ideal, the fascination with old objects is more of an appreciation of eternal things, artists have such a complex.
q: Some of your works are both paintings on the shelf and combined with installations, and some of them use metal materials to highlight the sense of future technology, how do you think about the impact of the current information technology era on your artistic creation?
My first paintings were introduced into the integrated material of the ready-made installation, and I did not have to worry about whether the final work was defined as a painting or an installation. The transposition of the texture of the material can bring me different experiences, assist my paintings, and expand my creations.
The use of ready-made products such as computer motherboards in my early works is a reflection on today's information network era, which cannot be nostalgic, and we will be programmed into every app today, facing the creation of canvases and keeping a distance from today.
q: All kinds of animals are a major element of your work, what kind of animal complex do you have? Seeing your own pet cat company on your photo, is there anything interesting about you and your pets and animals?
Animals have a physiological structure beyond humans, there are human ideals and totem worship, and the appearance of each animal in the work is actually a portrayal of a certain complex of the self. Cats are friends of many artists, and everyone around them has a few emotional relationships with animals in their growth experiences, and the world is what they share with us.
Source: Weekend Pictorial