Community Capsules 2021.10 Shanghai
The team of two people, remote design in a short period of time, material procurement and maintenance, continuous 30 hours of handling and landscape construction, without the opportunity for complete experiments and rehearsals, Huang Shuo told us the tension and racing against the clock in the landscape, but a few words are far from summarizing the nearly 20 square meters of ecological landscape called "Community Capsule" that shined in the Spring and Summer 2022 Tube Showroom. The core of the story and the spiritual contemplation behind it all rely on a plant and a stone, a grass and a tree in the real habitat, and these beings also have a desire to express themselves.
"Mountain Clouds: Colombian Andean Cloud Forest", 2019.04 Beijing
A self-raised poisonous snake bit Huang Shuo, fortunately the toxin was removed and removed, and the whimsical ideas that explored the living environment of the little snake gradually spread in his mind. The names and characteristics of the plants and communities that he was familiar with, as well as the romance brewed in the long-standing artistic accumulation, twisted into a force and transformed into one original landscape work after another.
The Community Capsule for The Tube Showroom is a forward-thinking work. How to rationally place the earth's ecological environment into the showroom concept space with the theme of "Tomorrow's Route", Huang Shuo set up a scenario for himself and the audience - irreparable ecological destruction of the earth, forcing humans to stay in space, which is an exercise for human beings to stay away from home. The Earth's ecology, simulated in the space environment, is somewhat inspired by Biosphere II. Condensing an ecosystem of Asian rainforests, coniferous forests and meadow landscapes in a limited space station environment devoid of Earth elements is an artistic creation supported by imagination, creativity and vitality.
Different from other individual works, in "Community Capsule", the metal pipes that show human movements are intertwined with the natural Asian tropical jungles and subalpine coniferous forests, and matter that does not belong to nature is deeply involved in the natural life cycle, which is the interstellar system that Huang Shuo intends to present. Through the explicit "artificial" representation of the earth plants left in the space culture medium, this conflict between nature and artificiality is precisely the nostalgic shadow of the earth creatures in Huang Shuo's vision of interstellar human life.
Due to various practical reasons such as conservation techniques, bare external space, and the fragility of plant life, "Community Capsule" can be called an improvisational work to some extent. "Less than half of them are in the preset, and the remaining more than half are played on the spot," Huang Shuo said. Achieving overnight creation not only means to complete the combination of plants, stones and other artificial objects in terms of types and materials, but also to let them play their temperament most appropriately through the combination of density, color, light and shadow. This improvisation is also inseparable from the creator's knowledge of each plant, as well as the daily cultivation of humanistic arts such as painting and architecture.
Through the use of native plants, Huang Shuo insists on maintaining the fundamentals of native landscaping, and as for the silver pipes sprayed with mist and non-earth artificial objects in the works, the strangeness and contradiction of their existence have a warning significance from the visual level. The homeland is no longer there, what a luxury it is to restore the nature of the earth in space, to understand nature, to copy nature, to feel nature, what kind of artistic possibilities are there in this category. Through the creation of "Community Capsule" this time, Huang Shuo not only extended the breadth of creation at the operational level, but also deeply excavated the "symbiosis effect" of meaning and God at the vertical level.
Redefinition of the "ecological landscape"
In order to facilitate our better understanding of the unpopular art form of ecological landscaping, Huang Shuo compares the original landscaping analogy to painting, which is divided into different genres such as realism, surrealism, and futurism, with the difference being the different emphases of form, god and meaning. Native landscaping is a pedestal in a semi-open propositional framework, with thickness and layers of art form. By copying the real habitat in nature, the basic concept of ecological nature concept is conveyed; and under the reasonable appearance supported by reason and science, the creator can shape the aesthetic in this art form, and can also freely express individual thoughts and explore propositions about the height of life and even the world view.
Chimanta Venezuela Guyana Plateau, 2020.09 Beijing
Although for the viewer, the original landscaping work is more of a freeze-framed instantaneous picture, but this is actually a continuous system, including the birth and death of plants, the change of wilt and prosperity, as well as the dissolution and dissolution of soil and stones. In addition to the artists who realize this kind of art, these living plants themselves are also involved. Although Huang Shuo injected his own thoughts into the control of the overall material, the consideration of color, the contemplation of light and shadow, and the dense arrangement of plants, only plants occupy a real dominant position in the landscape, they dominate the visual effects of the landscape, and also dominate all living beings living between this land.
Compared with the creator with the "perspective of God", Huang Shuo feels more like a "star-chasing" mentality for nature—worshiping the diversity of nature and reproducing and understanding nature through his works. He is more suitable for the identity of the "spokesperson" of natural ecology, he studies the language of nature, on the one hand, through exquisite composition and sentence making, he translates to the viewer the inner words of a plant and a stone, a grass and a tree, on the other hand, he borrows the shape and mouth of plants and ecology to convey his emotions and thoughts. The viewer also recreates it. In the original landscaping, which can never be completely opened up in the ocean, Huang Shuo is like a sailor, with continuous vitality and creativity for his ferry to continue, in all directions to explore the possibility of ecological landscape, may hit the reef, or even overturn the ship, although after trying may not know how vast this ocean is, but you can definitely find where the right channel is.
Mutual medium with nature
In thousands of years of parasitism and conquest, sacrifice and taking, man has formed a rather complex and diverse understanding of nature. It is both wild and gentle; it may be a mysterious power enshrined as a god, or it may be a spiritual carrier for the literati to send affection to. Huang Shuo has a rather primitive view of nature, in his view, many people have created things that are better than nature. Animism, the beauty of nature is precisely because "everything that happens in nature is not deliberately created for beauty" that it cannot be surpassed by man. Because of this, in his previous works, natural life is always the absolute protagonist, in his words, "The environment we are in at the moment is full of man-made things, so I hope to frame a picture in the cylinder, so that the viewer can fully feel the pure and real nature in an artificial space."
It is true that in the process of reproduction and reproduction, human efforts are inseparable, but no matter what means and methods are used, faithfully presenting the trajectory of plant growth in nature is the primary purpose of plant existence in Huang Shuo's works. It is difficult to say whether he is the creator who reproduces the primitive habitats in nature, or the craftsmen who strive for perfection in the millimeter. For him, it is obviously too boring to translate a landscape photo to three dimensions, but this does not mean that nature is just a way to complete a work.
In his view, the perception of nature is itself uncertain, the creatures in nature have their own temperament, green leaves highlight the depth and quiet, flowers make the atmosphere relaxed and soft, and the rocks may make the whole picture full of sharp and cold breath, the so-called "horizontal view into the mountain side into the peak", a primitive habitat can have thousands of appearances, and what Huang Shuo does is to pick up a picture he wants in the flowing natural landscape and reproduce it.
Huang Shuo always seems to be trying to erase his personal traces as an artist in his ecological tank works. But the nature he presents is by no means a long-lasting dead thing. In his hands, the divinity and humanity of nature are constantly flowing, and nature is both a living substance and a place where the human self seeks to hide and secure. Huang Shuo likes to express his mood and story in the works of the ecological tank, and his works always seem to have some landscape painting-style oriental philosophy, in the limited space and artistic conception, every scenery within sight can become a living organism.
"Water Mei Huanglong Needle and Broad Mixed Forest 2800" 2021.09 Hangzhuo
Self-expression is the starting point of Huang Shuo's creation, and his inspiration may come from everything around him, whether it is to feel nature in the immersive situation, or to see and feel when reading books and paintings, it may give birth to a wonderful spectacle in the vat. In the long-term accumulation and study, Huang Shuo gradually became an "all-rounder" who knew both arts and sciences, and he not only had a solid foundation of biological and geographical knowledge, but also had the characteristics of a romantic literati.
Speaking of the proud work "The Beauty of Water", he said that the inspiration for the work came from the "Crab Leaf" in the "Book of Poetry and Qin Feng". In Huang Shuo's view, "Crab Leaf" has "the ultimate beauty and romance beyond the times", and the image of the "Yiren" in the poem can symbolize all things that are more beautiful because they are unattainable.
He appeals to nature for this resonance, recreating the blue travertine pond surrounded by The Yellow Dragon Forest in Sichuan in an ecological tank. He recreates the form of this landscape with considerable care and delicacy, and the natural wonders that can be encountered but not sought in this corner of the mountains are his imitation of "beautiful things that can be hoped for and cannot be reached".
The artistry and sociality of nature
For the various questions that up-and-coming young artists may face, Huang Shuo obviously wants to be open. As a person who deals with plants a lot, it seems natural to expect him to speak out about environmental protection and species diversity. Huang Shuo does not believe that the attention to such public issues will obscure the creativity and craftsmanship in his works, and through his works, he presents the public with a most original nature, which in his view conveys some views on ecological protection. At this point, Huang Shuo is also full of confidence in the audience: "Show everyone what the most primitive, undisturbed nature is like, and everyone will naturally start to think about the consequences of human intervention and ecological destruction."
"Whisking Clothes back to Lin Luan, Dian", 2021.05 Shanghai
That's what he did in his latest project. In the corner of the courtyard of the Jin Mansion, plants from the Tertiary Period are used to build a community with special significance, constructing a dialogue between modern life and ancient life. These ancient creatures, which have survived because of the special terrain of the location, have gradually formed complex and individualized life forms after a long period of evolution, and they have developed in parallel with consumerism, which is itself a rare frank meeting between man and nature.
In addition to the commercial projects that are getting better and the individual works that release personality, the 20-year-old Huang Shuo also runs his own studio, and he is also the general manager and expert judge of the IVLC World Ecological Tank Landscaping Competition. Huang Shuo said that his journey to the art of ecological landscaping coincides with the development trajectory of ecological tank landscaping itself, all in order to build a high-quality natural residence for the beloved climbing pet.
In the tens of minutes of chatting with Huang Shuo, every creative process, every name of plant and surface form that he talked about like a family treasure vividly conveyed his love, which is not only a maverick person's pursuit of a "partial door" art, but also a rare friendliness that people can give to nature.
Interview, article Mulan & He Binglun
Edit Mark Liu
Images courtesy of respondents