Paper Recluse - A gift from Rauschenberg
Artist: Ye Yongqing
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10:00-19:00
Venue: King & Wood Mallesons Centre
Address: No. 201, 2nd Floor, East Building, World Financial Center, No. 1 East Third Ring Middle Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
+86 10 85878001
From 7 April to 23 June 2017, king & Wood Mallesons will host an exhibition of artist Ye Yongqing's works on paper, "Paper Escape – A Gift from Rauschenberg". The exhibition includes more than 80 works on paper created by the artist over the years, and 29 pieces of special paper directly created by the famous American artist Rauschenberg in China in the 1980s. There is also a large-scale paper comprehensive material work that will be completed by Ye Yongqing at the exhibition site, who will continue to work on the site of the art center for more than ten days, and he opposes the concept of "studio" and believes that he can create anywhere and under the eyes of anyone. Ye Yongqing's concept of on-site creation comes from his understanding of "paper". He believes that paper means portable, means freedom, especially the classic works of literati painting in the Chinese tradition, many of which come from the "painting while walking" on the journey. Ye Yongqing believes that "art", "artist" and "beauty" should all be free, because thought is free. So he is not only a collector of all kinds of paper, but also an artist who is keen to express his most flexible ideas and most subtle and exquisite feelings on paper at any time.
Mediterranean Themediterranean-vesuvius, 2017, Mixed media, 143x75cm
Image courtesy of King & Wood Mallesons Centre
"Sui" is a kind of ancient Chinese magic, a way to disappear and then gain freedom through a certain medium. Ye Yongqing's escape was realized in a variety of papers. The English name "paper chase" comes from a 14th-century English game. People roam the countryside in search of tips left on paper, each of which leads to the next destination. Ye Yongqing also sees each work in this exhibition as a clue and a hint to freedom. The "Rauschenberg's Gift" is not only a physical historical heritage, but also a spiritual enlightenment that completely combines art and play, life and walking.
The Mediterranean-Rome, 2017, mixed media, 143x75 cm
The exhibited works have both the mysterious characteristics of "stealth" in the "escape" method and the naïve and humorous sense of play in "paper chase". The part about the "Manyo set" is a seemingly simple piece of paper "circle dots". Ye Yongqing used the title "Manyo" to connect them to plants and nature. Plants are the most basic members of nature, and their leaves suddenly look exactly the same, but on closer inspection, they are all different. This leaf-like property is exactly what Ye Yongqing wants to find: calm down and take a closer look, each stroke has its own mood. He wanted to verify how different possibilities could arise if it had been expressed in the simplest way.
Another type of mixed-stock collage that is clearly pop-like uses a variety of common symbols: red crosses, arrows, checkered.... These symbols were linked to the local situation that occurred in Ye Yongqing's private time and space at that time, and gradually privatized the public symbols, becoming an artist's own handwriting and tone.
The mediterranean-pompeii, 2017, mixed media, 143x75 cm
The paper bag series is picked up and created by the artist in his own garbage. The paper bag was originally a very complete and distinctive commercial design, but its social function ended after the commodity was removed, but the image on its surface was still intact. Deconstructing and destroying such purposeful commercial images is an interesting game. The paradox is that another paper bag is "designed" by recreating it.
The nine colors chosen for the exhibition space are consistent with those used in Ye Yongqing's works on paper over the past two decades. The aim is to bring the viewer closer to one of the most distinctive elements of Ye Yongqing's creation: color, to show how the timeless charm of the work is created from the simple element of "color".
▌ About the artist
Ye Yongqing was born in 1958 in Kunming, Yunnan. He graduated from the Painting Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1982, majoring in oil painting, and is currently a professor at Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. He has held solo exhibitions in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, London, Munich, Augsburg, and Seattle.
Ye Yongqing's recent solo exhibitions: "Qianziyuan - Ye Yongqing Special Exhibition" (Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2016); "Qianziyuan Sequel - Ye Yongqing" (Longmen Yaji, Shanghai, 2016); "The Gilded Age - Ye Yongqing's Wanderings" (Asia Art Center, Beijing, 2015); "Ochre Collection - Ye Yongqing's 2012 Recent Works" (Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu, 2012); "Broken Flow - Ye Yongqing Solo Exhibition" (Yu Deyao Art Museum, Shanghai). Ye Yongqing participated in major group exhibitions: "Venice Biennale: Culture, Spirit, And Generation" (Venice, Italy, 2013); "Martell Extraordinary Artistic Figure of the Year" (Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2012); "Chengdu Biennale" (Chengdu, 2011); "30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art" (Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, 2010); "Collision: 30 Cases of Experimentation in Chinese Contemporary Art" (CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, 2009); "Triennial of Chinese Art." (Guangzhou, 2002); "20th Century Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition" (National Art Museum of China, 2000); "International Exposition of Modern Art in France" (Grand Palais De Paris, France, 1990); "Great Exhibition of Modern Chinese Art" (National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 1989). His works are collected by the National Art Museum of China, the Guggenheim Museum in the United States, the Triangle Art Foundation, the Minsheng Art Museum, the Long Art Museum and other art institutions.
▌About king & Wood Mallesons art centres
The King & Wood Mallesons Centre was officially opened on 20 October 2016 and is located on the second floor of the World Financial Center in Beijing's CBD district. The Art Center was founded with the support of King & Wood Mallesons and the King & Wood Mallesons Art Foundation. The center has a total of 700 square meters, including exhibition space, VIP reception room, and education and teaching space, which will be used to present professional art exhibitions, promote outstanding artists at home and abroad, especially in the Beijing economic center area where rare art institutions are present, carry out a series of multi-angle, high-quality art education activities or courses, cultivate high-quality art lovers and collectors, expand the international influence of Chinese art, and become a powerful disseminator of Chinese contemporary culture.
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