Yang Fudong - "The Coloured Sky: New Women II" Solo Exhibition

Text and photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Dates: April 18 – May 30. Venue: Marian Goodman.

This presentation of new works by Yang Fudong, China’s most representative contemporary video artist, features five high-quality interface space installations. Against a rhythmic backdrop of time, the interplay of five images presents an illusory, dreamlike beauty and poetry. Within his signature cinematic landscapes, he incorporates the imagery of youthful sisters whose dance embodies invincible ideals, using dreams of youth as a metaphor for the vitality and consciousness of a new China. Deeply considered, these elements unfold beneath poetic imagery, emotional color, rigorous structure, exceptional visuals, and musical poetry.

For the New Women theme, Yang Fudong appropriates Cai Chusheng’s classic 1935 film, paying homage to the filmmaker. Here, the artist expresses his emotions and consciousness in more abstract forms. He states: “New Women II reveals a colorful spectrum stemming from childhood memories—the cellophane wrappers left after eating candy, refracting rainbow-like colors in the sunlight like post-rainbows. This is what I can recall. More importantly, New Women II aims to reveal the secrets locked within the inner gardens of young women—dreams of youth (……) are what New Women II strives to express under this feeling.” (Note: From the interview accompanying the exhibition brochure at Marian Goodman.)