Yang Fudong. Estranged Paradise, Works 1993–2013

This first midcareer survey of the work of Yang Fudong (born in 1971 in Beijing, lives and works in Shanghai) presents photographs, films, and multichannel videos by a leading figure in China's contemporary art world and independent cinema movement.

Yang's work reflects the ideals and anxieties of his generation, a generation born during and after the Cultural Revolution that is struggling to find its place in the rapidly changing society of the new China. Although he draws much of his subject matter from the consumerist contexts of contemporary urban China, many of his images recall the literati paintings of the seventeenth century (Yang first trained in painting before switching to photography and filmmaking). His films have an atemporal and dreamlike quality, marked by long and suspended sequences, divided narratives, and multiple relationships and storylines. In his recent installations, Yang reflects on the process of filmmaking itself, creating spatially open-ended multichannel films that he likens to traditional Chinese hand scrolls.

BAM/PFA's presentation of Yang's work includes twenty years of photographs and video installations in the galleries; a focus on one of Yang's single-channel films daily in the museum theater; and a film series at the PFA Theater co-curated by the artist that focuses on works that have influenced him. In addition, Gazing into Nature: Early Chinese Painting, an exhibition of twelfth- to fifteenth-century Chinese artworks from our collection, highlights the influence of traditional painting on Yang's work.

Yang Fudong
Estranged Paradise, Works 1993–2013

artists:
Yang Fudong

curators:
Philippe Pirotte