Truth in Rebellion
Ruth Lin
A man of many hats, Yang Shu is first and foremost an artist’s artist: a seminal member of the ‘85 Movement, a curator and a professor at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. Added to this, he is the leading organizer of Organhaus in Chongqing’s 501 Artspace, where he maintains an ongoing influence on Chongqing’s emergent art scene, particularly among progressive art circles in new media.
Yang Shu’s assertiveness, and strength of character, is readily visible in his artwork. His confidence, extraordinary use of colour, and fluid brushwork testify to his understanding of the formal rules of representation and composition. By showing defiance against the orthodox conventions of art, Yang Shu has freed himself from the constraints of academic painting.
Yang’s paintings have a tremendous life force. They nourish our visual appetite for raw and lustful exuberance. His work makes us witnesses to a heated dialogue between acrylic paint, heavy oil sticks and startling interjections of Yang’s favourite four-letter word, fuck, and other forms of text, enriched by a full spectrum of his signature neon colours. What seduces us into these strongly gestural paintings is not the brash colours and flirtations with wordplay alone, but also the build up of surprise and pleasure in witnessing the works of an artist who knows how to ‘push paint around’. His canvases weave brilliantly between abstraction and figuration, making it difficult to characterize his style. Still, Yang’s works do not call for a literal interpretation; instead they evoke indications of the artist’s inner impulses, like those of the Abstract Expressionists.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Yang Shu
BIOGRAPHY
1965 Born in Chongqing, Sichuan province
1988 Graduated from the oil painting Department, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI)
1989 Taught at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI)
1995 Awarded by UNISSCO for a one-year residence at the Rijksak Acdemie, Netherlands
EXHIBITIONS
Solo
2009 Satyhagraha, Truth in Rebellion: Gibsone Jessop gallery, Toronto
2009 Satyhagraha: AHVA Gallery University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver
2009 Snake, Brain, Mask: TMproject gallery, Geneva
2008 Unknown Pleasures: Z-Art Center, Shanghai
2007 My Apple———Works, Exhibition of Yang Shu: Hanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
2001 Piece of Life:....”; A&A Phoenix @Brasserie on 8, Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong
Group
2009 Lovely Blossoms and Full moon: YUZ Museum, Jakarta
2009 New Works: Yang Shu and Chenweiming: Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
2009 SICHUAN HOT! New Painting from Chongqing City: Queensland College of Art Gallery,
Brisbane, Australia
2008 Yangshu and Gu Xiong: Beijing Center for art, Beijing
2008 Rid Poor and Reality: Royal Art Center, Shanghai
2008 Unknown Pleasures: Z-Art Center, Shanghai
2008 Towards the Post Abstract: Pifo New Art Studio, Beijing
2008 Spirit of Image: K Gallery, Shanghai
2008 The Power of the Brushstroke: Blue Dreamland Gallery, Chengdu
2008 More Yum Cha: Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
2007 Interception: Blue Dreamland Gallery, Chongqing
2007 Rote Berge, Grunes Wasser: Lubeck Art Gallery, Germany
2007 Post Avand-Garde Contemporary Chinese art: Four Directions of the New Era
Atting house limited, Hong Kong
2007 From Vernacular Modernity to Urban Utopia—30 Years of the Sichuan School of oil Painting 1976-2006: Centre of International Culture Exchange, Beijing
2007 China ……. : Today Art Museum, Beijing
2007 Guiyang Art Biennale Exhibit: Guiyang Art Museum
2007 Starting from the Southwest –Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Southwest China Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong
2006 Starting: SunShine Art, Shanghai
2006 Contemporary Paintings From Chongqing: Macdonald Stewart Art Center, University of Guelph, Guelph
2006 Sinbild—Wuyi: SunShine Art, Beijing
2006 Chillis from Chongqing: Qing Dao Art Museum
2005 Metaphysics: Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
2004 In Between: Tang Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2003 Lijiang International Art Workshop, Lijiang
2003 Metaphysics: Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
2003 Chongqing Chillies American Tour: Trisolini Gallery, Ohio
2002 Thought Provoking Art: Chongqing Art Gallery, Chongqing
2002 Artists from China and Korea: Chongqing Art Gallery, Chongqing
2001 Khoj Workshop, New Delhi
2001 Turn 360, Shanghai
2001 Chillis from Chongqing, Kassel
1999 Net of View 99 Artistic Works Exhibition: SFAI, Chongqing
1996 Dream Shares: 5 artists from Mainland China: Jamaica Center for the Arts, New York
1995 De Rijksakademie en get RijksmuseStudied um, Netherlands
1995 Pen Sail Streken, Netherlands
1993 2nd Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, Beijing
1991 Xishanhuan Art Document, Beijing
1989 China Avant Garde, Beijing
1988 Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Paintings, Yugoslavia
1988 South-West Modern Art Exhibition 88, Chengdu
