Huang Yong Ping House of Oracles

Spring is a season of alchemy at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing, with the presentation of two new shows: the first comprehensive retrospective of Huang Yong Ping to be presented in China, and UCCA’s first international group exhibition, comprised of six artists from around the world who are reshaping the landscape of contemporary art.

Long interested in the transformation of materials and concepts, Huang Yong Ping’s artistic processes always result in surprising metamorphoses. Throughout House of Oracles, Huang changes the nature of historical or contemporary objects in order to question generally accepted ideas. “This ambitious exhibition presents a retrospective of one of the most important Chinese contemporary artists on the international scene,” says UCCA Director Jérôme Sans. “It allows the visitor to embrace the entire extent of his exceptionally diverse formal vocabulary, with influences ranging from Dada to Chinese numerology.” At the same time, the six artists in Stray Alchemists are all scrutinizing their own artistic practices to wring gold out of everyday materials and chance associations. “Equally inspired by films, books, music and the media as by their personal interactions and environments, the artists work across art forms, adapting established production and pr esentation methods to experiment with materials and play with scale, dramatic narrative, and the formal languages of art and architecture,” Jérôme Sans observes.

House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective The first retrospective of this Chinese-born, Paris-based artist originated at the Walker Art Center, and was shown at Mass MoCa and the Vancouver Art Gallery before traveling to its final venue at UCCA in Beijing. House of Oracles showcases the most representative works by Huang Yong Ping from 1985 to the present. Navigating the divide between East and West, tradition and the avant-garde, the exhibition’s presentation at UCCA--the only Asian stop on its tour--marks the first ever large-scale exhibition in China of this major figure in Chinese contemporary art. House of Oracles was conceived as a “comprehensive work of art,” a singular, immersive sculptural environment. The exhibition was designed by Huang as a metaphorical--and sometimes literal--journey through the “belly of the beast.”

Huang Yong Ping "House of Oracles"
Retrospective
Kuratoren: Philippe Vergne, Walker Art Center / David Spalding, UCCA