Article & Interview

To place yourself in front of the objects by Zhang liyu is to get exiting glimps into an ancient society which is once more making radical and changes. A China quickly embracing the principles of liberal market economy. The work is loaded to the breaking point, due to the compelling and universal narration embedded in the objects-objects made up by numerous Chinese coins. The richness of the experience depends to a large extent on you- the viewer, now challenged with the task of seeing and interpreting.

The Beijing based artist Zhang liyu focuses with remarkable fresh and compelling nerve on the world’s most sought after commodity: money. lt is mostly a matter of money: in politics, religion, power, war and relation of the sexes. Most world ideologies strive in their efforts to conceal the immortal force of money. Zhang Liyu ‘s work maintains a highly symbolic value. He has stripped the coins of their functional value, although the work strongly suggests that everything has its value and for the right price can be bought. Zhang Liyu only emphasizes that everything has its price. The world and all in it is for sale.

On behalf of 3.14,I am pleased to present the first international exhibition of the works by Zhang Liyu .The complexity of Zhang liyu work has inspired us to introduce him to our audience. In organizing this exhibition,3,14 have sought to present a selected number of objects that successfully illuminate the artists development in recent years. The works in this exhibition represent an in-depth view of his artistic production. Zhang Liyu is now the last in a long line of Chinese artists to be part of our program. This show can especially be seen in relation to our recent presentation of Yang Fudong’s 5 films in the series “Seven Intellectuals in Bamboo Forest.” Both exhibitions are artists reactions to modern-day Chinas apparent move to embrace capitalistic principles, seen in relation to the country’s long, proud and impressive culture and history.

I wish to express my gratitude and special thanks to the artist, Zhang Liyu, for his enthusiasm in exhibiting with us at 3.14. Thanks to all the effort the artist has put into making this show, as well as assisting in enabling it to travel to Bergen, Norway, despite complicated customs restrictions on export of Chinese currency and coins. Thanks to the essays Wang Min An, who bring forth the artistic and curatorial take on Zhang Liyu by expressing the underpinnings of the subject matter. Through the text light has been shed for several possible readings of the work. I hope Zhang Liyus work will stir your fascination, reveal to you the complexity the objects encompass, and give you further insight into contemporary art and society today.

STIFTELSEN 3.14 Norway

Malin Barth

Director

Innovating Tradition

Every artist bears the opportunity and the burden of history and tradition. An artist learns from and is shaped by the traditions of the past and at the same time an artist must break from tradition in order to realize their individual artistic vision. This process is not linear, it is circular, as it is repeated and continues throughout the entire arc of an artist’s development and career. To further complicate matters, as soon as an artist creates an artwork they have established a personal lexicon, which in itself is a tradition, and now poses another layer of opportunity and burden. This is part of the territory that comes with being an artist and there is no escape from this conundrum.

It is in this struggle that an artist achieves a balancing act; it is the bringing together in the work seemingly opposite principles that defy resolution. This creative tension leads the artist to authenticity and opens a space for possibility. We might also refer to that space as “magic” and it is that “magic” which is perceived by the viewer.

When asked if he is influenced by a particular Chinese tradition, Liyu Zhang explained that he is not a religious person, but acknowledged that he grew up in a religious environment and is influenced at a distance by Chinese spiritual traditions.

Liyu Zhang strives for a kind of objectivity in his artistic practice, using a third eye to look at culture and interpret it. He consciously uses western materials and methods as a distancing device, while exploring his personal philosophy. In this regard we may see his practice at a further remove from tradition .

Liyu Zhang sees his work as conceptually and experimentally based, in which the process itself is the defining characteristic of the work. This may be observed, for example, in the titling of the works. Each artwork is titled with the dates on which the artist began and completed the work, so that the work exists in a sense as its own documentation, and as a record of the artist’s intent and method at that moment in time.

Liyu Zhang’s work is deceptively simple. That is to say, on first glance it appears simple, but upon further study it reveals itself to be nuanced and complex. For example, in the painting titled 03/28/2014 - 04/10/2014 we see what appears to be a simple green circle. But upon closer study we see that this picture is actually a composition of 240 concentric circles drawn in pencil on a green circle. I tried counting these circles and decided that I counted 240 but in fact I’m not sure if I counted 238 or 239 or 241 or 242. Just as the circles are beautifully drawn, but not perfectly drawn, the eye and the mind beautifully but imperfectly counted 240 circles.

There is an element of humor in this work. Liyu Zhang is a bit of jester, inviting us to count these circles so beautifully drawn, but knowing that we cannot complete the task. They say there is an element of truth in humor, that humor acts a foil allowing us to momentarily confront a difficult idea. The joke may be on us, but there is a deeper meaning behind the joke. We think we know what we see, but sometimes a circle is not a circle. We think we know what we can count, but some things in life cannot be quantified.

The painting titled 07/03/2012 – 09/07/2012 pushes this idea further. It is comprised of two pictures. Each one appears to be composed of a simple black circle, one is higher and one is lower, but hanging together side-by-side in the gallery they co-exist in a kind of equilibrium. This artwork refers to the idea of Yin-Yang in which opposite or contrary forces are seen as complementary, interconnected and interdependent. But in a subtle and powerful gesture, the artist has shown this idea as two separate circles near to each other rather than as a single circle comprised of two connected parts.

This artwork pays homage to and simultaneously critiques the idea of the Yin-Yang. Each circle is actually two circles: the one on the left is gray over red and the one on the right is actually gray over black. So, there is a doubling of the symbolism, a story within the story. It is human to strive for perfection and it is human to miss perfection. But these two ideas are not mutually exclusive; they are in fact interdependent. Standing side-by-side, separated by even the smallest space, the image defines our human nature.

The art has played a trick on the jester. The artist is not a religious person. He is not a spiritual artist. How then did it happen that Liyu Zhang made a spiritually powerful artwork?

The painting titled 10-08/2013 – 12/18/2013 is a beautiful mystery. It recalls certain formal aspects of western painting, but at the same time at its core there is something inexplicable. When I first saw the work I wanted to own it, but that feeling gave way to something deeper. I felt that I needed it. Not so much on a material level, but on a spiritual level. Liyu Zhang is grounded in Chinese tradition and has reached out to western art. In the process he has discovered a third way of seeing, a third eye.

The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis of Institute of Art, Katherine E. Nash Gallery | Regis Center for Art

Howard Oransky  

June 1 - 24, 2016

The Birth of Currency
Wang Min An

Georg Simmel points out that appearance of the monetary economy is the demarcation line between modern society and ancient society. In the ancient society before the appearance of the monetary economy, people exchange commodities with other commodities (bartering). However, once the social and economic life was dominated by the monetary economy, tremendous changes would take place in the whole society. Not only would the means of exchange become different, but also there would be changes in the relationship between men and men, men and commodities as well as commodities and commodities. In addition, there would be changes in the spiritual temperament and state of the whole society. To sum up, society would enter its modern state, which is significantly different from its ancient state. But what changes has the monetary economy given rise to?

An important principle for bartering is a direct and affinitive relationship between men and commodities. However, once the currency was born, there would appear a distance between men and commodities, and men can possess commodities indirectly. Possession of currency means the capability of possessing countless commodities from remote areas. These commodities may not necessarily be right here and right now in the hands of the men. Furthermore, the currency gives the men the right to choose among the commodities. All commodities have their values measured in terms of the currency, and currency becomes completely a symbolic denotation of the commodities. As the symbol of value, the currency makes the exchange and circulation of commodities and the difficult calculation relationship between commodities and commodities as well as between labor and labor more convenient, smooth and flexible. Currency is the common denominator of all values. It “completely hollows out the core of all things, their individuality, special values and incomparability. In the torrents of the stream of currency, all things float with the same gravity and are on an equal footing”. Thus, currency becomes a medium for exchange. Its status as the medium of exchange, together with the dominating position of such exchange in modern society, renders men its slaves. Currency was supposed to be a means of exchange in people’s economic life and serve the purpose of exchange. However, this means has become an end itself, to which all human activities are directed. It has become the ultimate and only goal of modern people. Monetary value is the only value recognized by people while other values are suppressed. Currency becomes the “God” of modern society. The monetary economy has also brought about drastic changes in the interpersonal relationships, organizational relationships, people’s individuality and even the whole social cultural life of the modern society. The cultural life of the modern society, driven by the monetary economy, proceeds along the following two lines: On the one hand, currency links up everything and leads to the uniformity and objectivity of all things; on the other hand, currency makes it possible to maintain independent character and freedom in that it frees people from their reliance on the feudal lords and replaces it with the reliance on commodities and properties. Wealth in the form of currency instead of commodities is much easier, freer and more flexible. 
  
This is the monetary philosophy of Georg Simmel. As the medium of exchange, currency has become the goal of secular life. Currency is the abstract sign of all material wealth. In the meantime, it is just because of its role as the sign of wealth that it has assumed practical functions. It is just because currency can measure the value of things that it can circulate and exchange. In this way, currency has symbolic value (its representation of material wealth) on the one hand and use value (rendering various kinds of exchange possible) on the other hand. Currency, the God of the human world, is the point of departure of Liyu Zhang’s thinking: Why not do some reflective thinking on currency? Why not pull currency out of the track of exchange? Why not pull it out of the holy spot where all the attention of the secular world is focused? Why not pull it out of its constant market system? These works of Liyu Zhang represent a new utilization of currency, but this utilization no longer has anything to do with exchange. He cuts the significance of currency off from the market of circulation and, therefore, hollows out the significance of use of currency. Currency is liberated from the myth of its daily functions. It becomes the material for another object, just like brick is the material for a wall. Therefore, currency is relieved of its mythological atmosphere and its destiny of being pursued and becomes a pure material existence. Liyu Zhang patiently sticks, arranges and organizes the currency, to be more exact, these coins together. This is full of fun, just like the mud games played by children in the old time. Liyu Zhang piled the coins into the shape of various objects: the crucifix, clock, penis, organs and other daily utensils. The coins are the element that makes up these objects. They are only the necessary material for these organs and penises of various sizes. 
 
These objects made by Liyu Zhang from coins are no longer the currency in economics used for exchange. Then, are they the penises, clocks and crucifixes? Obviously, they are not real penises, clocks and crucifixes, and they do not even “look like” the real penises (too big for that). Neither are they an “imitation” of the real objects, a “reproductive” expression. Then, what are these things which are neither penises nor currency? Do they have nothing to do with either penises or currency? These objects are, in the words of Gilles Deleuze, the “becoming” of penises by currency. Currency is becoming penises, crucifixes, clocks and all other conceivable things. This is an everlasting process of becoming and change. Liyu Zhang puts the currency in the continuous process of becoming, without stop, without purpose and without time limits. The currency is in the eternal process of becoming, and there is never an end or a fixed image. Therefore, these works had better be regarded as the becoming, creation and production of some objects through currency rather than the imitation of some objects with the material of currency. These works are not specific works, but the becoming of works one after another. These works are not tangible objects, but are, with Liyu Zhang’s huge plan as well as the diversity of the objects and their potential, a pure process of becoming. It is just in this process of becoming and change that both currency and penises change their nature: These objects are neither currency nor penises, or to be more exact, they are currency-penises.

Why currency? Why is the process of becoming of currency selected? Liyu Zhang manages to separate currency from the exchange system, from its system of functions, from the market, in a word, from its process of actual use. However, its symbolic value still exists, and its significance as the sign of wealth still exists. In other words, it still retains its meaning of money. It is still the common denominator of value, though not the common denominator of value for exchange. In this way, Liyu Zhang strips currency of its functional value, but maintains its symbolic value. If currency is in the constant process of becoming politics, religion, body and daily articles, then, what Liyu Zhang is trying to convey is that the latter cannot be separated from currency. Politics, religion, body and all daily objects have to rely on the forces of currency, on the becoming and creation of currency. Maybe there is nothing that can remain free of the immortal force of currency. This is a simple truth, which is often overlooked just because of its simplicity. Besides, various ideologies are always trying to conceal and cover up this fact about currency. Ideologies often aim at achieving the following effect: Axioms and justice seem to be natural and maintain their autonomy. They are not related to currency. The works of Liyu Zhang constitute an exact retort to this and seek to unveil the true nature of these ideologies. In fact, they are all an manifestation of currency. Currency is the mother of value, the mother of becoming, and the source of events and material. But on the other hand, currency, in a similar sense, has never been pure or self-contained. Instead, it is always in the process of becoming towards some targets, though never definite targets. Besides its use in exchange, currency is always becoming, creating and conceiving. Social production is the production of currency.

Yaxi Guo and Liyu Zhang:

A Conversation about the Inner Need and Non-stop Transcendence

Interviewed by: Yaxi Guo

Editor’s Notes: From the first day of his art production, Liyu Zhang has seen his material language experience the journey from the “Coins Series”, “Pins Series”, “Circles Series” to the present-day “Digits Series”, a journey not only of his artistic experiences but also of his mind. Each series is a mirror of his ideological exploration relevant of that period. With no exception, his reflections on social reality, or introspection on himself, reveal his trails of searching with profound implicature.

 Guo Yaxi (“Guo”): Many started to know about you with your works of coins. I am interested in knowing what prompted you to use coins. When did you begin?

Liyu Zhang (“Zhang”): It has to be led in from my living environment and context then. I was born in 1960s and went to the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts to learn printmaking in the Department of Painting in 1987. I first worked with coins as my works of art in 1999, when Chinese reform and opening-up was in its 20th year. I can argue that my works of coins constituted a personal answer to mammonism prevalent among many in the society then.

Guo: What’s the imagery that these works of coins try to symbolize?

Zhang: Back in the years when I grew up, most people had a steady job, weren’t that interested in money and money worshipping never was in the mainstream ideology. However, in the ten to twenty years following our reform and opening-up policy, mammonism became the flagship mindset in the society, not just among the general public but also among men of knowledge. For anyone to survive in this society, be them intellectuals or not, they had to be dictated by the society itself and manage to be included in whichever way possible, despite a personal unwillingness. I am an individual presence in the society, so, not capable of controlling how it develops, I can only use my own way to reflect on and question this society about whether it should look that way. This, to me, is the main reason that brought my works to life.

Guo: So there are deep personal thoughts and self-examinations of the context of the time in your works of coins.

Zhang: In the living environment that I once had, money was not everything in our society. People didn’t earn much, but they led a steady life. Bit by bit, money became the standard to measure everything we had in the world. The opulence, or, scarcity, of monetary value seems to decide the quality of everything you do or have. For artworks, the simple rule of thumb is good ones are those with a high selling price! In fact, commercial speculation and manipulation have already disconnected great paintings from top-selling paintings, but in the contemporary Chinese society, it has gone further radically into a weird situation that money is the golden standard of all, and success is gauged by the ability to make money, big or small. This new phenomenon is way beyond the knowledge of society of my generation. In my memory, we could be as idealistic as the ancients who could keep themselves away from the madding crowd to pursue whatever interested them and to maintain the relative independence of their character. Yet the truth is, in this modern world with the excess of money worshipping, our moral character has already died! No success should be scaled by the amount of money created. So, during that period, I used my works to challenge the society by asking: Is it indeed that money means the world to us? Shall we worship money as our belief?

Guo: So your “Coins Series” is giving expression to a paradox of money, more specifically, of the value of money and the fundamental value of art, society and people in relation to money.

Zhang: Right! After the reform and opening-up efforts kick-started, the earliest generation of men of means was only niche members of the society, rather than the mainstay. Strictly, they were neither social elites, but a mere phenomenon emerged during social transition. And now this “phenomenon” enjoyed a long life and became the “elite” of the upper class, which is definitely not the right standard one finds in a normal society. So my works are challenging the official system, humanity and belief (as is shown in the cross). People should not be born for money! I am not labeling everyone as money-goers; there surely are people who hold fast to their belief! Only that they could find rare company in this China where money is the currency for all! This is the contemplative outcome from my futile attempt at finding an answer to the social paradox, and the original intent inspiring my “Coins Series”.

Guo: In the words you used, money, together with “success”, “elite”, “value”, as well as character, personality, system and belief, are all talking about the fundamental questions, intricate and inescapable, concerning the standards and rules, temptations and responsibilities in the society we live in. I also took heed of “weird” and “phenomenon” you used, which I think is very precise. This “weird phenomenon” is indicative of a specialness in the transitional period. It could be of some “guidance”, but never the pace-setting mainstream! It seems that your works of coins are all covered with questioning, self-examination and critique. How come you stopped the series later?

Zhang: I made my initial attempts at using pins for artistic purposes in 2008, which was based on my contemplation of the “Coins Series”. Since that first series was against social issues, I then began to put the question mark on those artworks by trying to find out what’s inside my inner self. So, a dialogue unfolded, between me and my innermost being.

Guo: Isn’t your “Coins Series” also an expressive outflow of the inner self?

Zhang: It surely is! Or I can say more precisely that the “Coins Series” is an external response to my innermost being. And I stopped it and moved on to pins as an internal response to what’s inside me.

Guo: Why did you use pins as a medium for art production?

Zhang: Since early childhood, I was afraid of sharp and pointed objects, so I intentionally chose pins, the stuff that irritates my nerves, as the most genuine and sensitive language form in my deepest soul to produce artworks. Carpet is the first-ever pin-made artwork, followed by another, Heart. Using pins to do art is really painful. For one thing, I fear them; for the other, they give me a deep, tactile sensation of “being touched”. I don’t know why I could put up with everything and get them done.

Guo: Besides this deep, tactile sensation of “being touched” deep down that compelled you to “endure” the whole process of making a “painful” piece of art, what are other motivations? Is it a mere drive of spiritual rationality?

Zhang: There is an interesting by-product, a response that runs counter to my knowledge in physics. It’s purely fantastic! When I first used pins in my works, those pins looked silver. When the works were in progress and getting larger and denser, this carpet, which was supposed to be sharp, cold and unapproachable, turned into a luxuriant blackness surprisingly glittered with colorful lights that invited curiosity, excitement and allurement. At that moment, sharpness softened, coldness warmed, the distance separating the viewers vanished, leaving only a tender impulse of touching them. That’s brilliantly intriguing! I was thrilled, and I never expected it!

Guo: Your transition from coins to pins as medium of art production is one that moves from the external to internal projection of your inner self, and you’ve captured the fun and value in your art practice. But I saw that you stopped after making just a few in the “Pins Series”. May I ask why?

Zhang: You are right. I made just a few, three actually, in that series. The first one is Carpet, which is based on my real life. The second and third pieces are Heart and Emptiness, which take inspiration from my soul as soul-searching manifestations. This quest for the inner self gave me the “form” that I really liked. So when the “form” presented itself, I quit the pins effort and moved on to works on paper. In 2009 and onwards, I broke away from art mediums common in academic art education and instead favored everyday tools, like the far too common pencils, ball pens and pens, in my artistic pursuits. I also loved to use paper with traces of life and past, which gives us a human touch of closeness.

Guo: I think your paintings on paper are both of Minimalism and Pop Art, both of Modernism and Post-modernism. I love this series of works!

Zhang: And that’s your perspective! As a matter of fact, I’ve been making iterative efforts to find what’s inside my soul, yet the ultimate answer lies in the shadow, never giving me access. I tried to search and justify the deep-seated need in me by painting circles of all sorts—single circle, circle in circle, longer circle and more regular-looking circle. I’ve been on my quest for years.

Guo: So the only reason that you put a temporary stop to “Pins Series” and initiated the art production on paper is that you found your dreamed “form”?

Zhang: There could also be a psychological dimension! When I am painting the circles, I was actually seeking the psychological response to whether I felt good.

Guo: According to your description, the uncomfortable psychological “sense of being touched” when using pins as the medium was gone and, in the process of producing artworks on paper, you’ve come to experience the comfortable psychological “sense of being touched”?

Zhang: That makes sense! It’s true that all my artworks are born out of the needs in my inner self. When I found that the “circle” had long been the inseparable soul mate I’ve been looking for, I used it and kept painting it till this day. Friends of mine, out of good will, told me not to repeat it for this circle thing was born earlier in the West, but I didn't give the slightest consideration. The thing I have to consider first and foremost is something I care, something I sincerely need deep in my heart! Only when you go back to the innermost self will you find something that has your name on it. When I painted the circle for much longer years, they thought I was in self-cultivation, self-examination and self-enlightenment. Aren’t they right! It takes time, sometimes months, for me to use a thin pencil to slowly paint the circle in even thickness till the end of reaching the desired precision in my mind. You never stop when your inner self says no. It’s not for some surface-deep effect or result. It’s a call deep down in you!

Certainty is never the word used to describe one’s mind, and that adds a charming spell to the process of searching because it is not handed down from reality but created in your mind! The creative process is an endless iteration. Sometimes I had to paint the circle fuller (for the paper has its nature changed from repetitive uses), while other times I had to paint it in shriveled shape, both determined by how I searched my soul. It fascinated me and urged me to live and paint at ease. Moreover, I think it also involves cultural cognition.

Guo: I know there are Western artists working on the “circle”, but never had I seen anyone doing it to its fullest like you. Your “circles” give out a rich air of Oriental culture. Is this the cultural cognition you mentioned?。

Zhang: Yes! I hardly agree with those who claim the extinction of Chinese culture. Chinese culture runs in our blood and is shown in our life. Conveniently, the things we eat and use are totally different from the West.。

Guo: I think so.

Zhang: The elements of Chinese culture naturally found their presence in the later efforts of my series on paper, such as the relationship between yin and yang, the flatness and plumpness of the picture, the circle drawn by the black pen on black paper and by white pen on white paper, which are all natural display of sub-consciousness. I do believe in a top-down look into the local culture of our society to fundamentally sense the smell and taste of culture. This is cultural cognition, as well as a cultural spirit. The cultural spirit is the most essential underlay that influences how you make progress.

Guo: What are you up to recently? Still on the “Circle Series”?

Zhang: I didn’t have time for circles these days.

Guo: How so?

Zhang (smiling): Lately, I’ve been putting some thoughts into finding the ray of Oriental culture that I understand, something that is hidden and reserved. It presents itself in due course when you provide the right moment. I am not trying to answer to a cultural need, but a need deep from within, and I'd use a fun and interesting way to present it. A case in point is the water I applied to my album, using day-to-day, usual practice. To any common man, water is colorless and odorless, though it does possess traces of color, and it’s fun when discovering them. I often preferred to fill the bowl with some water and found it interesting to always be greeted by a certain minute and hard particle. So I tried to put it on paper and the water left its own traces after its stay on paper. To my knowledge, it symbolizes how Easterners perceive paper and water. When these traces, in way of patterns, show up, I’d write down the time I made them beside the traces to document my actions.

Guo: We only keeping doing things that are fun. I think you should also document the space and location. If it’s done elsewhere, the meaning and result shall differ.

Zhang: I agree. “Water on the album” is only one strand of my artistic endeavor, and there are other mediums I use. When in fifties, people involuntarily take a greater liking to their own local culture, driven possibly by the age. I also chose to record my time till my demise in digits, leaving my own marks on the world. In a way, I am abandoning the form of painting and addressing all the hanging questions without being confined in painting.

Guo: That is a world-shocking transcendence!

Zhang: I gave up painting because I don’t want to be sized up by the unanimous standard that everyone uses and I want a breakaway. I am interested in using a new form, the form of digits, to record my time on earth till the moment I disappear. I think highly of my work, and don’t solicit the recognition or judgment from others. It’s already adequately good art when you leave your traces, those moments that mark your living on earth, during the time you inhabit the space with your own actions. When I was working on Carpet, I figured I should return to aesthetic expressions, but now that is neither a prerequisite nor important. I’d also like to use Chinese characters to document what I do in a year. If I am in my studio in Tianjin, then characters will come up, otherwise, you see blank space. I never want to go back to the established aesthetic concepts! I want an out! Existing standards are not my cup of tea.

Guo: From the initial “Coins Series” to the present “Digits Series”, you have been making headways centering on the “inner need” that you so stressed. Your “Digits Series” is surrounded by an aura of purity and cleanness, so much so that it is reduced to life itself.

Zhang: I don’t know how it had evolved like that. When I was obsessed with the “circle”, I was feeling the pulse of what my inner self needed. It turned out to be no different from the standards I already had, so I decisively abandoned it! When people praise you, they hold you to a given “standard”, and I don’t fancy this “good standard”. I want to isolate myself from these standards! There are four milestones in my creative path: first is the “Coins Series”, second is Carpet where I changed to pins in searching for the fear within me, third is the selection of my internal need in the “circles”, and finally, in 2016, I gave them all up by yearning for greater freedom in documenting my life in all the ways and methods I like.

Guo: Have you thought about making a living out of these? Are these works sought after in the market?。

Zhang: I never worry about making a proper living. Now working as a university teacher, I can also sell a few pieces of art every year, like sculptures and canvas paintings. I have a collector base from different parts of the world, including Shao Zhong, a Chinese collector, and Uli Sigg, an international collector who happens to be one of the leading collectors of Chinese contemporary art and the first foreign collector of my artworks. There are also a few American names, Justice Christopher J. Dietzen, Jim Ramer and Liz Dodson, as well as Henriette Champetier de Rides, a French collector and professor at l’école Nationale des Beaux Arts. Collectors look at diverse aspects of their collectible-to-be as a result of their varied cultural settings. However, when your art pieces are generally received by the market, they then lose the experimental value they once honored.

On top of that, I can make my pile through other means. I find it unnecessary and uncomfortable to trade things I hold dear for money. Why should artists pander to others’ likes or dislikes? I can make a fortune by selling Chinese hamburgers! (LOL) The last thing I wanna do is to put what I like to some distasteful ends, just to humor the market calls. I think art should be drawn back to the nature of man, and actually we should be drawn back as well.

Guo: From your “Coins Series” to “Pins Series”, and then to the “Circles Series” and the present-day “Digits Series”, you delight every breakthrough with a personal signature of aesthetic creation. The first two series created a “cool” feeling that really fit in with that time. “Coins Series” spoke a language of ruthlessness and indifference, while “Pins Series” carried more of an entanglement and pricking pain, both of which are brain-child of your particular aesthetic creation. The “Circles Series” took a vastly different turn by retreating from the “coolness” in the abovementioned two and gearing towards an introspective and tender visual experience that is both immutable and casual, both powerful and exquisite, both minimalist and maximalist, both modern and post-modern. It is, in its entirety, the snapshot of your most authentic state of mind and life, and an aesthetic creation that has your own mark on it. Lastly, the “Digits Series” further went above and beyond the standard of aesthetic creation. I admire your self-enlightenment, introspection, confidence and courage! You are adept at thinking out of the stereotypical box of art thinking! Though you risk losing things others value much, you are reaping freedom, sincerity and purity that those people do not and will never have, which is knitted tightly with your character and inner needs. You are, with no doubt, a brilliant artist with a contemplative mind!

Zhang: You are brilliant, too! (chuckling)

Liyu Zhang: Material Axiom

Formalism and reduction: the artistic creations of Liyu Zhang resound and act as epitome, eloquent posits as regards the quest of a minimalist expression in lieu of an external expansionism. The question of absolutism, especially on close examination of his paper works, runs counterpoint to the “kunstmalerei” ascribed to the contemporaneous position, correlations with predetermined aesthetics, compositional methodology and abstraction (as considered by the Occidental mind) occur in a contemplative composition.

The philosophical artist has opted for a path demarcated by intensive elaborations upon medium. The sense of a kinesis with material is evident, whether the minute metallic fabric of industrial pins which comprise the chief medium of his quasi-textile sculptural equations, or the more symbolic material of monetary value, metallic coins, transformed as a base material for his sculptural objects. Equation to object: there is an intrinsic value which desist a symbolic metaphor alone, this returns to a chief signifier of the artists’ signatory value, wherein, kinesis of material “fact” deliberates the intentional creation with spatial medium. An abstract connotation in terms, yet, viable alternative as the use of medium in being a method of employment rather than that of medium functions to offer artistic spheres beyond restriction. In this sense, an operative creation is in process and not stasis, which allows one to return to a non-orthodox aesthetic value and further, philosophical query. 

Sculptural creation is often akin to an organic process wherein the materials commonly employed: bronze, copper, aluminum, wood and so forth experience as removal of the external “unnecessary” towards a figurative result which is in fact, the act of creation by the sculptor. The artist consciously, intentional, operates towards the spatial and visual closure of a predetermined model: the “ideal” form instigates the mannerism. Figurative representation has declined in practice as the emergence of abstraction and alternative modalities has come to pre-dominate the field of spatial creation for over a century. What is wish to denote is the actual meritorious nature of Liyu Zhang’s operative approach, as while it contrasts the “reductive absolute”, it yet enhances, paradoxically, the normative in pop-iconography and contemporaneous leitmotif despite an immediate “resemblance”. Rather than a removal towards the reductive, we observe a minutiae of constructive labour: metallic coins, fibres and pins appears as objects given importance as their multiplicity and unanimity as object undergo and actual transformative process: the final construct, architectural rather than organic. The result is due to a mathematical or near surgical process: the nominal and quotidian of the materials employed may bring one to question the significance of their individual/symbolic “language”, yet what is constituent, in fact, is their iconographic code-industrialism, manufacture, neo-capitalism- and a visual association of vernacular symbol is replaced. The replacement due to the principal of a quasi-architectural sculptural method which incurs, insists, that the reductive is here represented by the component, rather than, figurative & representational. 

To adopt the term, “construct”, may be unusual in a traditional sense when evaluating the artistic engagement or task at hand of any creative demarche. Yet, the minutiae and evident process orientation of Liyu Zhang appears as an accurate and essential depiction of the necessity for deliberation of materials as regards spatial creation. Hence, the individual component evolves as a cellular, microcosmic entity for speculation. The endeavour is towards a new reading of medium, as much as eccentricity of deployment. The construct offers a perspective which refuses accidence, flux or organic kinesis. The physical absolute of the materials selected results in a conceptual kinesis, wherein the absolute is both a philosophical and physical convergence. 

The artist cites Chan Buddhism as an influence, wherein an eternal presence may be infused in each creation via the repetitive erasure of form, line & object. The sense of spiritual vacuity may incite a contrastive analysis in several of his creations which allude to historical-politico symbols: Das Kapital, or more common mundane objects such as with the Clock series, the Dice series, yet underlying the fabric of these symbolic visually cognitive “objects” are the actual medium: the reiteration of coins fused together, metallic fiber which coalesce as a whole while remaining visually evident as unique, save for their original emblematic point of manufacture. This convolution of original prototype/object to one of fluid cognition gesture, juxtaposed with the intentions to achieve a chaotic, vacuous effluvium well depicts the artist’s intentions, yet a measure of fallacy exists in that the impossible non-impact of the spatial medium excludes, by its existence, the object as being a “non” rather than an existent. Liyu Zhang may deliberate, execute with an acute methodological patience as he constructs spatial works which intrigue and render the paradox of industry, symbol and associative iconography of a vernacular code as being at the fore, yet the eternal appears better expressed in his quasi-abstract renderings in oil pen on paper.

The two dimensional creations operate, equally, towards a sense of reduction. The colours selected are dark, their tonality without luster: geometrical or spherical, we have a compositional absolute which reminds of metaphysical abstraction. In their linear intensity we may observe a similar and remarkable minutiae as regards the imperative “reasoning” of the artist at work, herein, the line and mark replaces the symbolism of metallic manufacture. Multiplicity recurs on a planar dimension rather than spatial, the planar field and actual visual stasis better affords the spectator with the contemplative rather than interpretative act. Untitled, there exists no opportunity to “interpret” the creations save for their visual content. The act of illustration here compounds the sense of the presence of linear rather than contextual, of density and saturation rather than opaque or vacuous. This, in part, plays towards a truth of contrast, further emphasis given by polar-contrastive operations in both colour and tonality, which works to imbue a sense of negation given the visual intensity. To meditate upon negation towards an absolute, or visual perceive a compositional negation would such an imperative towards a speculation on what may be titled, “the void”, but the “eternal” of Liyu Zhang does not escape intention. The eternal vacuity is suggested, perhaps, his manner and mind refracted, yet we have the evidence of a fragmented visual which incites contemplation/results from a subjective external, the diffusion of the “eternal” encounters a contest of fabric/form and movement. 

With patient speculation, the spectator comes to observe an artist whom alternates, employs dichotomies inherent in material and mannerism, avoid certain predominant and facile tendencies within the field of contemporaneous creation. In result, we are offered an array of objects, objects which incur our examination of what may constitute the “real”, while we may be led to equally meditate upon the deliberations of the eternal, what the question of the “ephemeral absolute” and “concrete absolute” returns in a language rudimentary of art: the approximation/fascination of material. The commonplace incorporated, having undergone symbolic and vernacular “rupture”, yields paradoxical truths- interpretative convulsions. The sense of construct/stasis collides with origin/object: speculations metaphysical or scientific arise. In the truest sense of literal, the work is curious and interrogative, the engagement with material in a non-organic approach profound. The curious labour of these works which appear obsessed with material reduction and a dialectics of space do not warrant proclamations of the “eternal” nor enounce the “vacuity of the spiritual”. The constituent body of creations, in constant alternation & schemata, rather depict the gravitational force of occurrence/reason. A gravity which returns to the objective entity: a zeitgeist of Duchamp/Kant as parallel.

Parallelism, perceptual latitudes and axiomatic grace of material lead to an inevitable speculation upon truth ephemeral in concrete manifestations. The currency of the vernacular in lieu of the mundane may be read, the absolute emblem of social advent & myths of progress which embrace the contemporary experience of the P.R.C. transformed as a substance of aesthetic modality. Divest of symbolic origin, what is manufacture and of manufacture act in coercion to address a factual, viral presence in our collective routine. Cognition is undermined, and capital in “redux”: where established fields of reference fail, the artistic operation is a visual surgery to incite new imagery, spatial retorts upon social travesty. Liyu Zhang acts to indicate the power of consumption, the modal residue which forms as knowledge yet, insists, that we recall transience above and beyond all in the latent expressions of commerce, materialism and a common ruin.

A material axiom of this nature suggests premeditation, predetermination and succession of medium in employment. The spatial configurations necessitate the sense of concurrence with the aforementioned, save for the original iconographic item/tool/utensil of manufacture. The axiomatic grace is subterraneous rather than immediately evident, as the act of creation is expansive, the succession here exists as an extrapolation of intrinsic paths rather than ideaic deliberations with brute iconography and material symbolism. I lay emphasis on this sense of effluvium rather than the concrete as the axiomatic is of an essence of the mind rather than intellectual external alone. That the resultant truths are contrastive rather than entire, witnessed in the resultant body of physical work, is of no surprise. The contemporaneous sphere of artistic practice appears resolute to purge or act as an operative catharsis for the individual, at least, within the individual experience. The tragic of the mundane and blind arteries of consumerism are denoted, yet central, beneath the evidence of the commonplace, an alternative stratum continues, endures, have not come to cease to exist. The presence is a silent universal voice which signals the fallacious non-consequence of the global rhetoric, this viral contagion which instigates acclaim and engenders a social vanity void of merit. The artist reiterates question beyond answer, axiom before dictum. Thus, there exists greater sound when at last material falls quiet.

 R. A. Suri

 Tianjin, PRC.

 05/10/2015

Présentation:

Nº 1  Nº 1 bis

L’ homme se lève,libère ses mains.

II  crée des liens intimes entre faire et penser.

Face à la réalité de leurs conditions humaines, les hommes sont amenés à adopter une conduite conforme à leur mortalité

Nº  2

L’ oeuvre de I’ artiste devient le miroir de sa pensée intérieure. il rend visible ses rèves et son imaginaire avec  la déformation du miroir.

Nº 3

Ici I’ artiste nous montre I’ association squelette et pièces.

Représente‐t‐il le désir de I’ argent jusqu’ au‐delà de la mort......

L’ homme veut-il ainsi échapper à sa condition au point de s’enfermer dans cette métamorphose.

Nº 4 et  Nº 4bis

La vie……

L’ artiste nous la montre dans I’ alliance de deux différences，Ie fait que  I’ ordre du tout dépende d’ un seul. quoi……

Ici entre le féminin et le masculin, ce qui est recu et donné.

Nº 5

Horloge

Le jeu dynamique de toutes ces relations d’ ordre nous parle d’ harmonie.

La nature nous en donne le sepectacle quand nous savons encore prendre le temp de nous étonner et d’ admirer.

L’ artiste trouve les moyens pour nous faire partager sa vision de la beauté. à nous les mortels  à qui les mots ont été donnés pour communiquer.

Nº 6 et 6 bis

La croix

Comprendre ou aimer. Aimer et comprendre.

Dans cette image de la rencontre de la verticalité et de I’ horizontalité. verticalement chaque pièce se porte.

A I’ horizontal comment font‐elles pour ne pas tomber .

Revient‐on au squelette. La structure porteuse.

La croix. veut‐elle exprimer la contradiction de notre pensée et son unité?

Nº 7

Au commencement,une pièce recue.

EIIe se multiplie.

Se developpe.

S’ épanouit.

Doucement. elle se prépare  àn’ étre plus qu’ elle‐méme. à  la fin elle se donne. elle se perd.

C’est I’engrainement.

Nº8

Entre le coeur de poils et le tapis d’ épingles. que choisir? L’utile ou I’agréable ou les deux?