The Pulsation of Life in Shanye Huang’s Art
On Shanye Huang’s Solo Exhibition Regeneration-Connection-Celebration
By Gong Lin, PhD
The themes and meanings embedded in the immersive solo exhibition at Sandy Spring Museum entitled Regeneration-Connection-Celebration by Shanye Huang, whose inspiration comes from his Zhuang heritage and Chinese folk traditions, are multifaceted and multilayered. Regeneration explores not only the revitalization of human life and nature after the historic pandemic but also the transformational transition of Huang's artistic life from the depiction of traditional Zhuang folklore to the experimental conceptualized contemporary art. Connection is likening a beautiful embroidered tapestry of the Zhuang folklore weaving through the paintings, paper-cutting, sculptures, and installations of Shanye Huang’s more than 40 years of artistic exploration, connecting the traditional and mysterious folk art of the Zhuang people with the contemporary art and pop art, forming the theme of Huang’s art and his crisscrossed artistic language. Celebration permeates Huang's art in all forms, whether it is painting, paper-cutting, or sculpture of large-scale installations, all of which are full of joy and hope, optimism, and expectation. Almost all his works embody the melody of Zhuang folk music, primitive dance, and the dynamic power of mountain-scape murals and cliff totems. Using vibrant colors and being filled with unconstrained spirit, the artist hopes to interact with viewers and share his passion and joy in expressing his emotions, ideals, and aspirations through his artistic creations.
The multi-layered meanings of the exhibition theme are fully reflected in the works on display. For example, the painted paper-cutting installation "Crossing to Transcend” made with simple traditional craft materials with brilliant and animated colors and primitive totem patterns, expresses the unceasing and tenacious power of human life and nature, as well as the intricate interconnectedness between human life and nature. The fusion of the initial form of life and the "meta-universe" information of contemporary society seems to construct a magnificent rainbow that crosses history and the present, dream and reality, East and West, bringing infinite reveries to people from different regions and cultural backgrounds.
The outdoor installation "Symphony of Four Seasons" consists of four colorful pillars like bamboo flutes in a Zhuang village, in gorgeously vivid colors corresponding to the four seasons- spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The pillars, more than 10 feet tall, reach high into the sky, stretching our imagination to the heavenly realm where the sun, the moon, the stars, and the sky are connected and unified. Artist Shanye Huang Crossing to Transcend (2022) Symphony of Four Seasons (2023) 6 The carefully chosen words - love, peace, joy, health, blessing, us, and fortune - are calligraphically written on the four pillars in 15 different languages representing the diverse populations in the surrounding communities. The colors and shapes of the four pillars symbolize the infinite vitality of the vibrant life force, as heaven and earth are connected, and all things are one. The strong sense of ceremony and field space expresses the artist's close attention to the environment and climate. The artwork reflects the indispensable relationship between life and nature, which is not only the foundation of human existence but also the ongoing theme of the artist's expression and exploration.
Inspired by the Zhuang village embroidery ball, the mixed media large-scale installation “Flowers of Love” uses the same shape and different color combinations collaged into a circle, like colorful flowers hanging in the dome of Dr. Bird Room. The repeated round flower shape, drawing on a traditional folk "Matching Color" paper-cutting technique, overlapping multiple colors of paper to cut out one at a time. After the cutting, however, it can be crossed, replaced, and spliced to reveal multiple repetitive shapes in different colors. It not only presents folk wisdom through the unique language and method of "one for ten" paper-cutting but also contains a wealth of emotions and meanings in the simple method that not only reflects the symbolism of love and affection from the traditional folk custom of embroidered balls, but also the symbolism of "colorful flowers.” "Colorful flowers" express the romantic imagination of life and the future and imply the concept of the generation of all things in the world, as stated in the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, an ancient philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period of China, which states, "The Tao gives birth to one, then one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things.” The CDs mounted in the middle of the flowers produce a sharp contrast of material selections in his artistic language. This contrast reminds people of a group of children holding up the colorful pinwheels rotating in their hands, singing and playing joyfully, gradually revealing the artist's child-like lightheartedness, reminiscing on his childhood memories like a movie, in which the children's voices, light and lively, pure and innocent, full of love and joy-filled in the infinite space.
The exhibition also features a series of new paintings by Shanye Huang, such as Light Shines from Within (2023), Begging Fish (2023), When Songs Begin Series (2022, 2023), and Fusion #6 (2010, 2023). In these works, it is evident that Shanye Huang has been constantly exploring the essence of painting, experimenting, and reforming his artistic languages. He has transcended his narrative language in paintings of folk subjects and folklife traditions into a highly abstract expression, retaining the spirit of meaningful folk art, folk cultural symbols, and metaphors to tell stories that pertain to people and relate human emotions and experiences shared universally. In these works, Huang has conceptualized his expression from illustrative narration to an abstract language layered with meanings and the essence of folk culture.
For example, "Begging Fish" is no longer a depiction and reproduction of folk life but a recreation of the symbolic meanings of “fish” in folklife. In Chinese folk culture, the word “fish” is equivalent to “extra,” which means “prosperous.” However, in this painting, the artists, borrowing the traditional folklife “fish'' patterns from different periods and regions, explore the interdependence between human beings and nature; and how climate changes have affected the rivers, mountains, and nature. The fish lays dying on the drying land; in the vague background, a fisherman holding a fish gently in his hand, prays for good fortune. His painting employs simple line sketches and primitive color textures as if telling distant, enchanting stories, yet so intensely catches our attention, embodying a painting intention that is both profound and simple, primitive and modern simultaneously.
In his "Fusion" series, Huang attempts to fuse the spatial modeling of a painting with cultural symbols. He extracts abstract shapes such as landscapes, birds and flowers, figures, and cloud patterns from Zhuang brocade embroidery and folkart motifs. Then he cuts and breaks them down, combines and transforms them, splices them together, and superimposes them, replacing them with his stylistic language, creating a feeling of entangled lines and colors, intertwined symbols and cultures, and collision between space and volume. Just like the world where human beings live, the conflict, fusion, and coexistence of different cultures, histories, races, and beliefs in the context of globalization also seem to be the state of connection between human beings and different creatures in nature that live together harmoniously and indefinitely. Therefore this series of works, whether in painting language or spatial treatment, shows that Shanye Huang’s exploration and experimentation are not limited to the technical level of painting techniques but rather rise to the level of an open vision and mutual integration of cultures. Standing at the height of this vision and level, Shanye Huang has achieved self-confidence and a new style of marrying Chinese and Western cultures and mutual integration of painting languages in his paintings. In the series of works "When Songs Begin," his self confidence and style are even more obvious. Shanye Huang completely detaches himself from folk symbols and uses geometric abstract shapes, free brushstrokes, and simpler colors to directly express the artist's inner spirit and state of mind at the moment: simple, joyful, free from constraints, and self-assured. Huang Shanye’s art has reached a new realm of maturity in this exhibition.
Born in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Huang has been living and creating art in the United States for 30 years. In this exhibition, whether it is large-scale installations, paintings, or paper cuttings, his inspiration comes from the folklife cultures and roots of his Zhuang hometown, as well as what he sees and meditates upon the nature and human beings, challenges in daily life, as well as reflections on love, blessings, and meaning of living. Begging Fish (2023) Fusion No.6 (2010, 2023) When Songs Begin No.4 (2023) 8 These paintings and installations are a fusion of Zhuang folk art elements and contemporary art concepts, with vibrant colors and rich forms, borrowing Zhuang brocade embroidery and bronze drum patterns, cliff mural symbols, and more, exploring the crossing and fusion of mediums and materials between painting, paper-cutting, and installations, and the relationship between the expression of personal emotions and the transformation of plastic art language, demonstrating the aesthetic significance of Shanye Huang’s unique life experiences, life reflections, and artistic creations.
As a Zhuang artist from Guangxi living in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Shanye Huang’s blood flows with the ancient Zhuang folk culture. In his early paintings, he consciously absorbed the traditional Zhuang folk legends, myths, dances, music, poems, and other folk nutrients into the language of his paintings so that his works naturally contain a sense of ritual and narrative like the epic of Zhuang folk art. Whether it is "The Tapestry of Zhuang Village" (1984), "Fight" (1989), "Tapestry of Dreams" (1999-2007), "Zhuang Love Song Series - Blessing" (1999), or "Zhuang Love Song Series - Wind" (2002), standing in front of his works, I am reminded of the long poem of the creation myth of the Zhuang people, "BuluoTuo," reciting the ancient and grand creation epic of the Zhuang people in which BuluoTuo, the God of Wisdom, creates all things in the heaven and on the earth, regulates ethics and morality, pursues a happy life, and prays to get rid of evil spirits and bring good fortune.
Along his artistic journey, Shanye Huang has been a traveler with a strong sense of soul-searching and self-reflection. Especially since settling down in the United States, he consistently draws inspiration from his Zhuang heritage and his ethnic folk art, experimenting with materials, styles, and languages while exploring human existence and the originality of life. From my observation, his artistic path consists of endless deep footprints step by step: in terms of art genres, from decorative painting to interactive installation art; in terms of artistic concepts, from reproducing and depicting the folklife in Zhuang village to deeply thoughtful expression and meditation upon the common life existence and nature; in terms of linguistic expression, from drawing on the planar composition of the traditional folk paintings to applying abstract symbols and substituting them in the contemporary art.In the method of language expression, the symbols are combined and replaced.
In this solo exhibition, Regeneration-Connection-Celebration, we can see that the relationship between these three has become clearer. Shanye Huang has refined his artistic language more and more; the spatiality of the installation and the characteristics of the medium are much simpler, the meaning is much clearer; and the way of displaying forms a conscious interactive relationship with the audience, the grasp and presentation of the paper medium are more relaxed and easy, not only expressing the ancient traditional cultural connotations but also the characteristics of the medium itself in its symmetrical modeling reveals the unique charm of the language of paper cuttings.
As a result, the conceptualization of Shanye Huang’s works in expressing the theme of life has become more distinctive.
From traditional folkart to contemporary conceptual art, from regional art to international art, Shanye Huang has come all the way with deep and clear footprints a a calm and solid pace. This is the common path every sincere contemporary artist takes with the spirit of exploration and experimentation toward his or her own spiritual world.
Gong Lin, Ph.D., Beijing Film Academy, China.
Professor, School of Fine Arts, Beijing Film Academy.
Visiting Professor, Department of Animation, Sejong University, Korea.
Member of China Artists Association.
Member of the first Experimental Art Committee Member of China Film Artists Association.
Member of Theory and Criticism Committee.
Jury member of the Experimental Art Section of the 12th National Art Exhibition of China.
Jury member of the 23rd Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Film Festival (SICAF)
English translations by:
Sara Caporaletti (BA, McDaniel College, MD. MFA, American University, DC)
Louisa Liu (BS, George Mason University, VA. MS, University of Maryland, MD)
On Shanye Huang’s Solo Exhibition LIFE IMPRINT
By Carolyn Bevans, Museum Specialist, National Gallery of Art
Isolated. Anxious. Untethered. These are just a few of the emotions that have gripped the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It was these emotions—and what feels like a never-ending pandemic— that inspired Shanye Huang’s most recent work, Unyielding, as well as themes throughout his solo exhibition, Life Imprint.
Spanning 14 feet, the viewer is engulfed by Unyielding in the same way that this unprecedented pandemic has overwhelmed our world and our lives. As one's eye journeys from corner to corner of the massive painted cut-paper installation, it moves up and down, twists and turns. In some ways, the sharply cut paper is reminiscent of large sheets of rusted metal that have been shaped, compressed, and twisted by an invisible, but powerful force. The cool blues and deep purples bleed into warm oranges and yellows. The colors and shapes mingle and flow in and out of each other. There’s no clear start or end. It’s not linear, moving from one point in time to another. Instead, it's an ever-evolving dance where we move fluidly between various states. In this way, we see the presence of the yin-yang philosophy, the harmonizing and interplay of energies throughout the universe, which is at the very core of Huang’s work and artistic process.
Huang’s process begins with preliminary sketches, which he then translates onto Xuan rice paper. He applies a combination of ink and acrylic paint, which helps to strengthen the paper, providing structural integrity and making it less prone to tearing. Huang describes this step in his process as “creating the work of art in its original form.” He then goes on to create patterns and forms, reflecting his inner thoughts and meditations, before carefully cutting the paper. For the artist, this process is a metaphor for transformation – another theme threaded throughout Huang’s work.
The artist explores this theme from a personal perspective in his Transformation series in which he grapples with his experience having come to the United States from China. In Transformation, he overlays cut paper onto a vibrantly painted canvas. Looking at these works, one is reminded of the palimpsest quality of one’s identity. With each new experience, our sense of self becomes layered – embracing the new while maintaining the traces of our past.
Having grown-up in Guangxi, Southwest China, the artist draws inspiration from the textiles and embroidery arts from his Zhuang Ethnic family. He explains “since I was a child, I have been fascinated with the colorful tapestries in the embroideries used in our daily lives, decorated on our clothes, bags and baby carriers for instance.” In many ways, Unyielding is a woven work. Some areas reveal more space, while others seem closely knitted together, which brings to mind another symbol that appears frequently in Huang’s work: the endless knot. In his paper cut installations and paintings, we see different shapes, colors, figures, and characters woven together to represent the idea of eternal connectedness and interdependence.
Such interconnectedness is a particularly compelling concept at a time when physical isolation is a painful reality for many. Works such as Unyielding and One Voice remind us that humanity is experiencing this together and that together we are resilient. His works do not impart a false sense of optimism. Unyielding acknowledges hurt and happiness and cradles both. It represents how happiness and joy coexist with moments of sorrow and pain, and neither are extinguished by hardship. Similarly, the shared bodies and faces in the large-scale painted cut-paper installation One Voice remind us that we are inextricably linked to each other.
In this challenging time, Shanye Huang’s work offers us a chance to contemplate our relationship to each other and the world around us. He reminds us that while external experiences may shape us as individuals, our thoughts and actions have a transformative impact too. In the artist’s words, “I hope my works act as the record of our life to inspire hope and faith in rising above and emerge as stronger and better.” So, in many ways, this exhibition invites us to ask ourselves - what imprint will we leave on the world?
Reflections on the Art of Shanye Huang
By Jason C. Kuo, Professor of Art History, University of Maryland
The first impressions one gets when looking at Shanye Huang's works in the current exhibition come from their colorfulness and vibrancy. Upon closer examination, one is gradually drawn in to the various levels of visual and material sensuality, then on to the sophistic discourse on life brought out through the imagery. Huang's art is a synthesis of his own sensibility and his life experience as a member of the Zhuang minority in Southwestern China, a Chinese, and as a Chinese American. It is therefore particularly appropriate to reflect on these aspects of his art in order to obtain a better appreciation.
First, Huang is deeply affected by his experience of the ways of life of the Zhuang people, who have maintained rich traditions of festivals, music, textiles, and folk arts. Second, as an artist formally trained in two of China's academies of fine arts, he has absorbed the long and rich Chinese cultural, religious, and philosophical traditions, and has attempted to integrate them into his work. Third, his life experience since arriving in America from China and settling down in suburban metropolitan Washington, D.C. has also contributed to what he has to say, by means of concrete form and style, to people who come to see his art.
Why is it important to note the significance of the folk-art aspect of Huang's work in the so-called "global" age? I think, in part, it is because Huang's work is both local and global. In part, as was pointed out a long time ago by the British writer D. H. Lawrence, human beings cannot live in a geographical as well as spiritual vacuum:
"Each continent has its own great spirit of place. Every people is polarized in some particular locality, which is home, the homeland. Different places on the face of the earth have different vital effluence, different vibration, different chemical exhalation, different polarity with different stars: call it what you like. But the spirit of place is a great reality."[1]
Huang's art embraces its identity as a hybrid and is not simply a slavish imitation of his Zhuang tradition. Symphony of Longevity, his 2003 large mixed-media installation of used CDs painted with acrylic colors, for instance, is a good example of his integrating discarded everyday objects with Chinese ways of achieving happiness in life. Other pieces, such as At the Wedding (1990) and Tapestry of Dreams (1998-2007) are also informed by and indebted to the artist's firsthand experience with the vibrant and colorful way of life in his native land.
Seasons of Life: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (2008-2009), the centerpiece of the current show, is an interactive four-sided installation; after looking at it, the audience is invited to make prints from hand-carved stone stamps, then write comments. Located near the center of the Gateway Arts Center Art Gallery, it reminds me of the Yellow Book Talisman, "one of the most powerful magic boards for contacting spirits related to Earth", a format that is derived "from the square zone at the center of the ancient round bronze mirrors, considered [by Chinese Taoists believers] to be of great talismanic power."[2] Furthermore, many of Huang's pieces with intersecting written Chinese characters clearly can be related, if only partially, to the ancient Chinese belief in the magic of the written word and to the possibility of writing as "picture of the human mind" (xinhua) .
It is quite fascinating to see how Huang alludes to ancient classical Chinese poetry in creating his imagery intended for a contemporary American audience. Forever a Seeker (2008) is based on one of the most memorized poems by the ancient poet Qu Yuan (ca. 340-277 B.C.), who is the first great poet known by name and whose main work entitled "Encountering Sorrow" has entered the emotional and psychological make-up of almost all great Chinese poets; the poem is about the poet's intention to continue his search for an ideal world in spite of the long road and hardship. When Spring Comes Again (2006) is based on yet another famous poem, memorized by almost every student, by Bo Juyi (772-846), perhaps one of the most flamboyant poets in Chinese history; the poem is about how spring brings about and regenerates nature and life.
In short, Shanye Huang's art embodies the artist's continuing search for personal and cultural identity in the constantly changing world in which we all live. His art, therefore, offers ample opportunity to reflect on the potentiality for renewal and regeneration in our life.
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1. D. H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (New York: Viking, 1964), 5-6.
2. Laszlo Legeza, Tao Magic: The Secret Language of Diagrams and Calligraphy (London; Thames and Hudson. 1975), 125
SELECTED COMMENTS:
"Shanye, I have heard only positive things about the exhibition. Everyone who has come and seen it, from the very beginning until now, has had only glowing things to say about your work. Congratulations!!" --- Alec Simpson, Director, Brentwood Arts Exchange @ Gateway Arts Center
"Absolutely incredible. You can look & look & still find something new. I love it! This exhibition is beautiful beyond words. We can't think of enough adjectives to describe the beauty of these paintings. Thank you so much for sharing your gift of art. " --- John & June Williams
"It is a fantastic show, a must see. I have not seen this caliber of work in a long time, simply beautiful." ---C.D.E. (www.artdc.org)
“Shanye Huang’s works reveal their power through the force and the brightness of colours, through the different effects of forms, the textures, the pictorial matter, the magnetic energy from the pictorial sign which spring from the canvas. In his paintings imagination and creativeness are released through the flow of the living and acting forces on the canvas, the interaction of spaces, forms and colour connection, taking them beyond to their physical limits…” ---Paola Trevisan, Curator, Trevisan International Art, Italy
“Thank you, Shanye, for the beautiful art, the inspiration for my entire piece! The art came first, then the music, then the dance… I first saw Shanye's art and was immediately inspired to write music. When I met him and heard about the Spring Song Festival in Guangxi, I knew I would write a grand symphony about it, and later had the idea for a ballet. He was the inspiration behind the entire project! Thank you for being the great artist you are!" ---Silas Huff, Conductor and Composer, NYC
"Our exhibition of 'Contemporary Artists' has a large variety of mixed media. One, in particular, is the art of Shanye Huang, a Chinese American artist, who has brought his culture with him. It pops out in his mixed-media paintings. I was surprised to see he uses Chinese and English newspaper mud on canvas. I have never seen this combination before." ---Annette Rawlings, Director, Andrews Art Museum, NC
“We received many compliments on the show by both members of our university community and of our larger audience. People particularly appreciated your lively colors the upbeat subject matters and the illusions of faces/landscapes you created with the figures/ground imagery.” --- Louise Lewis, Director of the Art Gallery, California State University, Northridge