108 x 132 cm
The title of this series – Two videos, three photographs, several related masterpieces and American art – is paradoxical, suggesting the work is conceived in relation to its medium and a situation in art history and the region of the world in which it was made. Paradoxical but in the end, often true of the way in which art history is written. The presence of black men and the term “American Art” brings us back to Robert Mapplethorpe’s Black Book . Certain critics had judged this book as racist, with the idea that the black man is reduced to an object. For his defenders, it was above all, research into beauty, as in ancient Greece where art has created an ideal beauty in a platonic vision. Yan Xing is interested in transformations and interpretations. This series is conceived as a parody of American art thought of pure abstraction. An America that can refuse to think of itself as a land of emigration, crossed by the themes of racism and gender that are at the origin of the construction of its own identity. The American culture and the culture of appropriation, a certain form of cannibalism that nourishes other cultures, is at the center of this series.
Yan Xing, currently based between Los Angeles and Beijing, is known for his interdisciplinary projects that include sculpture, performance, video, photography and installation. The artist’s projects are often complex and conceptual with the body remaining central to all explorations. Through critical examinations, the artist imagines how history constructs our present. He interrogates literature, history and history of art. His work explores themes of negativity, resistance and order and the complexity of their connectivity.
The headdresses, woven from artificial hair braids, symbolize historical icons including Martin Luther King, Kwame Nkrumah, Fela Kuti and King Guézo of Dahomey...
As the caption purposely admits, these drawings were made by friends of Ondák’s at home in Slovakia asked to interpret places he has journeyed to...
603 Football Field presents a soccer game played inside a small student apartment in Shanghai...
State Terrorism in the ultimate form of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood features a portrait of the artist wearing a zipped utilitarian jacket reminiscent of a worker’s uniform, with one arm behind his back as if forced to ingest a bundle of stick—a literal portrayal to the definition of fascism...
603 Football Field presents a soccer game played inside a small student apartment in Shanghai...
Americans for the Arts Partners with Free People to Advocate for the Importance of Arts in Early Public Education | Americans for the Arts Jump to navigation Americans for the Arts Arts Action Fund National Arts Marketing Project pARTnership Movement Animating Democracy Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Load Picture Home News Room Americans for the Arts Partners with Free People to Advocate for the Importance of Arts in Early Public Education Hello Guest | Login Americans for the Arts Partners with Free People to Advocate for the Importance of Arts in Early Public Education Thursday, November 3, 2022 Americans for the Arts and lifestyle brand Free People today announced a first-time partnership, which includes a Creative Spirit Fund that empowers public school arts educators to fund the next generation of diverse creators...
Americans for the Arts Remembers Star of Film, TV, and Stage, Angela Lansbury | Americans for the Arts Jump to navigation Americans for the Arts Arts Action Fund National Arts Marketing Project pARTnership Movement Animating Democracy Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Load Picture Home News Room Americans for the Arts Remembers Star of Film, TV, and Stage, Angela Lansbury Hello Guest | Login Americans for the Arts Remembers Star of Film, TV, and Stage, Angela Lansbury Friday, October 14, 2022 Americans for the Arts mourns the loss of beloved Artists Committee member Dame Angela Lansbury , who passed away in her Los Angeles home on October 11, 2022, at the age of 96...