You Yong: Breakthrough Journeys

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Tang Contemporary Art is honored to announce the opening of You Yong’s solo exhibition: ”Breakthrough Journeys” on September 2 at our Hong Kong Wong Chuk Hang Space, curated by Tang Yu. Deviating from You Yong’s previous logic of painting habits and language logic, a shift in directness and simplicity are demonstrated in his artistic expression, daring to open his breakthrough journey with determination and attitude.

You Yong’s past fascination with traditions and classics helps him constantly delineate historical coordinates upon his paintings, and has led to the versatility and diversity of his stylistic expressions. Although we rarely see in his works how historical and societal changes throughout mankind history can bring about cultural conflicts and social anxieties, an indisputable fact is that he possesses a clear and determined subject consciousness and trajectory of action. In this exhibition, a series of new works created by You Yong from 2022 to 2023 demonstrates a clear watershed—a breakthrough beyond the visual logic of classical oil painting language, while absorbing and transforming the context and conventions of traditional Chinese painting. From my perspective, this shift is precisely the method by which You Yong examines and refines his own painting language and logic.

You Yong has an inherent sensitivity to the technicality of art, enabling him to master its language and utilize the method of painting for conveying powerfully his observation and contemplation regarding contemporary society. For him, achieving technical accuracy has never been a challenge. During this summer, You Yong created a series of portraits in Xinjiang, such as “Gazing”, “The Color of Peaches”, “Rose”, and so on, which seem to deviate from his previous painting habits and language logic. Firstly, he set a higher level of difficulty for himself in terms of the dimensions of the artworks, opting for elongated formats of 120×50 cm and 80×30 cm – formats that are not commonly seen in realism portraits. This prompted him to reevaluate the overall composition and spatial layers. In terms of visual representation, he abandoned the spatial relationships dictated by focal perspective and the large extents of negative space. Instead, he employed concise colors and flat painting techniques, relinquishing to some extent the depiction and rendering of the tactile quality and volume of the figures. This allowed the figures, backgrounds, and environments to form a unified and simplistic flat space. The four-panel painting “No. 777 Xin Hua South Rd” exhibited in this collection follows a similar approach, presenting a scene of multiple people gathering within a flat space while boasting a sense of fluidity. He no longer fixates on spatial relationships, and has replaced meticulous brushwork with a mood-focused flat application. He intentionally subtracts from the language of painting: paradoxically, this simplicity and directness of the imagery is what precisely strikes at the soul of one’s being.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

You Yong has a complete academy education system, from the High School Affiliated to CAFA, Central Academy of Fine Arts, to a Ph.D. student under Yang Feiyun in the Chinese National Academy of Arts. His painting style is built upon not only his solid practice basement but also his unique and sensitive painting sensation. His works contain the classical spirit and present vividity, also perfectly mix the animated, introverted brushstroke color and tender, elegant temperamental character. Confronting the stunning choices of painting that the boundaries in the contemporary have been limitlessly broadened, Yong You appears his remarkable critical thinking, independent appreciation, inner courage, concentration on accumulation, and tendency towards eclectic; he has traveled an exclusive road of painting in the practice of constant reflection and introspection.