Yang Yongliang: Parallel Metropolis

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Matthew Liu Fine Arts is honored to present the solo exhibition "Parallel Metropolises" by Chinese artist Yang Yongliang. Showcases the artist's latest digital works, delving deeply into the complex relationship between modern urban civilization and the natural environment. For over two decades, Yang's work has been firmly rooted in the spiritual core of traditional Chinese ink painting, while also breaking new ground by employing modern technology. He creates reconstructed landscapes that captivate viewers with their dense layers of meaning, offering a profound contemporary visual experience. 

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This exhibition marks a pivotal turning point in Yang Yongliang's creative career. Since relocating to New York in 2018, the artist has been shuttling between Shanghai and New York, observing and experiencing this Western metropolis through the unique lens of his Eastern cultural perspective. The concept of "Parallel Metropolises" not only reveals the artist's geographic span, but also symbolizes his profound reflections on cultural identity and artistic creation. This "parallel" embodies the convergence and resonance of Eastern and Western civilizations within the work, reflecting the arduous exploration of cultural translation and self-reconstruction undertaken by this Chinese artist in a foreign land. The exhibition bears witness to Yang's philosophical contemplations on individual identity, the collision of civilizations, and the expression of art within a cross-cultural context, embodying his unwavering pursuit of bridging cultural divides and facilitating spiritual communication. 

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In the series of works presented in this exhibition, Yang Yongliang reconstructs the New York City landscape into a series of vividly evocative contemporary landscapes using his unique digital art language. From grand city panoramas to intimate street scenes, the artist's keen observation and meticulous creative skills capture the diverse and thriving spirit of New York, integrating it into his works. These pieces are no longer simple records of urban scenes, but rather a modern interpretation of "rhythmic vitality" (qiyun). Just as the Song dynasty painter Fan Kuan's landscapes pursued the unity of "form and spirit”, Yang's works focus on conveying the inner spiritual qualities of the city while also recreating its external forms. His creative approach inherits the artistic characteristics of traditional Chinese landscape painting, where "distant views are all mountains and water, while close-up views are all brush and ink”, while also incorporating innovative contemporary digital techniques. In the work "Phantom Metropolis”, for example, the artist employs cutting-edge digital imaging technology to reorganize the intricate details of countless Manhattan buildings into a dreamlike, mirage-like vision, evoking the classical Chinese imagery of "mirage" while also revealing the artist's philosophical contemplations on the modern city. 

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Throughout the exhibition, Yang Yongliang skillfully navigates between tradition and modernity, East and West, reinterpreting the form of the modern metropolis through the aesthetic paradigm of traditional "rhythmic vitality." His works embody the essence of Chinese landscape painting while also pioneering new frontiers in contemporary digital art, reflecting the profound reflections of a Chinese artist on cultural translation and self-reconstruction in a foreign land. Yang Yongliang presents us with a "Parallel Metropolis" imbued with rich meaning and boundless imagination, through his unique Eastern cultural perspective and innovative artistic expression. 

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"Parallel Metropolises" not only showcases Yang Yongliang's extraordinary achievements in artistic creation, but more importantly, it reveals how contemporary artists explore the profound issues of cultural identity and artistic innovation within the context of globalization. Yang's works seamlessly blend the foundations of traditional culture with the aesthetics of modern technology, creating a novel form of contemporary art expression. The "Parallel Metropolis" he constructs is an artistic space where the real and the imaginary intersect, and viewers, immersed in this familiar yet unfamiliar experience, are compelled to reflect on the complex relationship between human and nature, development and preservation. This is not only a quest for one's own cultural identity, but also a philosophical interrogation of the direction of human civilization. By using digital video as a medium, the exhibition prompts viewers to reflect on the values of modern society, where art becomes a path to re-examine the human condition, affirming the indispensable role of contemporary art in reflecting social development and promoting cultural introspection.