YANG JIECHANG

Yang Jiechang’s solo exhibition entitled Artists Continue to Try Hard showcases a group of representative works stemming from different periods and realised in a variety of media. The artist’s proficiency using traditional Chinese techniques, such as calligraphy, ink painting and meticulous colour painting is matched by his elegant and efficientuse of other media, for example video and sound. Yet, Yang’s favourite tool is the Chinese brush and painting and calligraphy are at the centre of his creation. He however does not consider himself an ink painter or calligrapher but rather a contemporary literati and painting for him is an act of participation in our contemporary world.

The exhibition title is borrowed from one of Yang’s works, a neon light created in 2007 mirroring the artist’s handwriting. The work addresses the passion and self-imposed demands of artistic creation, and, more generally, calls for self-cultivation as a transformative strategy.

Writing and speech—or sound—are two principal elements in most of the works on view. Their combination underscores the artist’s emphasis on participation and action.

Yang, who is writing up-side down, purposely uses errors (baibi) and mistakes, thus giving his calligraphy a coarse, powerful style which he terms ‘dark writing’. The artist also frequently documents his writing in the medium of video. Oh, My God/ Oh, Diu (2002–2005), a set of two calligraphies, shows the artist writing and pronouncing the exclamation ‘Oh, My God’ and ‘Oh, Diu’ respectively. The work is a response to the events of 9/11. Among the images repeatedly broadcast by the mass media, only one appeared authentic to him—a young man running from the collapsing twin towers and shouting ‘Oh, my god’. Similarly, the video Ooh (2022) shows the artist writing and pronouncing the exclamation “Oh”, a sound of joy and excitement. The sound and its written trace forma kind of mantra, a token of positive energy offered to the world.

For Yang, video functions as an extension of his painting, a means of writing down an idea in a concise and pointed way. In Duc (2011), the artist, disguised as a bird, repeatedly hits the camera with his head, causing the image to reverberate in sync with the corresponding sound. Each impact shifts the camera, making the video image tremble before stilling again until the next hit. The stability—or instability—of the image is defined by every individual act ofthe artist.

The exhibited paintings, mainly large in size, show Yang Jiechang’s mastery in different techniques such asinkpainting and meticulous colour painting.

Among the earliest works in the exhibition are two sets of ‘Soy Sauce Drawings’ (1988 and 1989). Yang createdthemnot long after his emigration to Europe using materials at hand. Inspired by Chinese stone steles and calligraphy, these works foreshadow the artist’s emblematic series of ink paintings entitled ‘Hundred Layers of Ink’ (1989–1999). Fingerprints (1994), a set of ten monochrome ink paintings, is part of this series. Such works are characterisedbyquasi-naturally emerging images, built through layers of diluted and pure ink, and by the resulting interplay between matte and glossy surface.

Do Not Move (2014), Crosses (2025), Untitled (2025), Vajra Mantra (2025) and Ink (2025) are representative of Yang’s gestural, figurative style. Similar to the ‘Hundred Layers of Ink’ series and his meticulous colour paintings, the artist paints in layers: an initial black-and-white image is covered with a transparent white layer, on top of which a second image is added. In Do Not Move, Yang paints a tensely curled line resembling a whip or a spring on top of an image of falling bombs. The drawing of the whip is juxtaposed with the request ‘Do not move’. Yang once again establishes an interplay between movement and stillness, action and inactivity.

In the end, Artists Continue To Try Hard speaks of the artist’s conviction that all change must begin withintheindividual. Yang playfully and wittily expresses this position in many of the works featured in this compellingexhibition.

Martina Köppel-Yang | Tang Contemporary Art