MadeIn Gallery is thrilled to present artist Yang Yang’s first solo exhibition “Manifestation” on March 4, 2023, featuring a curated selection of his paintings. Yang explores the localization of painting in the context of globalization, and proposes a flat treatment of media ethics surrounding painting. On such basis, he distinctively integrates elements of ancient religious art, expressionism, and street graffiti in his creations. For him, the materiality of materials and the process of painting weigh as much as its outcome.

The artist’s skillful control of the picture is rooted in his mastery of material properties and painting techniques. Nevertheless, the occasional simultaneous effects are gracefully accepted, injecting a continuous and dialectical tension into the picture and releasing the sub-/un-consciousness otherwise restrained by reason. This exhibition is a comprehensive illustration of the creative process Yang has developed in recent years, in which multiple layers of paint and, in particular, the spaces in-between are organically interwoven, subtly revealing the imagery. As a result, rather than achieving predetermined results, he unceasingly liberates an intuitive potential for modeling that grows out of his rigorous training.

Having reflected on the religious and humanistic zeal once shouldered by painting, the artist focuses his research on the graffiti-like material reality generated by the layering of and damage to religious murals. As Yang sees it, such unique material, along with its visual properties, is the focal point where various “pasts” – those of human history and cultural vicissitudes – commingle to form a mixed “present”. This coincides with the familiar visual experiences of globalization and the Internet. How do global flows and experiences shape us and reshape the local? The answer needs to be framed in regard to the sort of globalization we truly desire. As we begin to regain the pre-pandemic freedom of travel and exchange, Yang’s paintings may well provide a reference point.