Chihung Yang: Inner Vision．Human Condition-2007 Solo Exhibition at National Art Museum of China, Beijing

Yang Chihung’s paintings from the late 1980s and early 1990s have been described as embodying a kind of “plant aesthetics.” In these works, Yang uses the harmonious structure of the universe and expressive visual imagery to present a romantic atmosphere that possesses its own internal rationality. From the late 1990s onwards, Yang’s paintings usually have waving, spreading plants as their subject matter, in a fusion of the brushwork techniques of Chinese ink brush painting with Western art’s emphasis on color and light. Here, Yang is seeking to portray a visual sense of time and speed within a two-dimensional space. Yang Chihung has used oils, acrylics, woodblock prints and ink brush painting as his main media. His work has a multi-faceted character, straddling the border between the abstract and the realist, while also containing elements of both the rough-edged and the refined, the primitive and the civilized, the conscious and the sub-conscious. Yang’s paintings are multi-layered works that demonstrate great technical expertise, including an impressive unity of color and light; within a freewheeling space, they succeed in capturing the spiritual essence of the subject matter. When approaching the issue of time, Yang uses color and shape to portray on the canvas each individual trace of visual and spiritual flow. At the same time, he employs composition and dynamic motion to transform his thought into a kind of non-visual spiritual depth; through imagery and rhythm, he is able to express his own spiritual contemplation through poetic emotion rather than through didactic, logical exposition. Starting in 1998, Yang embarked on a process of spiritual exploration of his own inner world. As he achieved ever greater understanding of life, his attitude towards form was transformed from a material to a largely psychological approach, and then from a psychological approach to one based on imagery. The overall effect of these works is one of freedom and release.