The Structing[R]

Yanlyn Wang

Dec 14, 2013 ~ Jan 13, 2014

For those science adopters, the “Big Bang” theory is an effort to explain that our universe was embarked on its original condition and the ensuing cosmological module after evolution: since the beginning, the universe was under an extremely hot and dense state, thereafter the gradual expanding and cooling process, followed with countless planet’s birth and death, fragments of rock were wandering as cosmic dust in the universal field. Due to the drastic alteration of temperature and intensity, all kinds of materials appeared magically. Undergoing the revival after the “Big Bang”, a whole new world began.

 

Similarly, a minimal “Big Bang” experiment has been taken place in Wang Yanlyn’s studio in Shanghai－a tiny room less than twenty square meters. Wearing the gas mask as astronauts and introducing Apollo space capsule to her teeny kitchen, she put microscopic structure of rock images into oil and high temperature, which made a happening of cancerous alienation. Drastic changes have been made to its former texture and surface, a series of new image and information was created, image and paper eroded mutually and hybrid to a brand-new materialistic piece, which Yanlyn called “oiled image specimen”. Amazed by the produced image, she began being obsessed with those embryo rocks in creation. Among her rock collection, those in relevant with her “oil image specimen” in terms of image and feature have been colored with acrylic in topology, given similar semblance but variant essence, they are co-existed with the images as another piece of “specimen”. The explosive rocks have wonderfully made colors and textures after the burst. They came from rocks, yet evolved in very different ways. Sometimes they are, alike the cutting pieces from the universe or the vague specimen copy condensed from a micro-world and a macro-world. By studying or closely dissecting those specimens in pairs from a “specimenized” process, Wang Yanlyn has re-identified herself in contemporary art.

 

Back to the path of Wang Yanlyn’s art composition, the origin of art theme, method, and concept is interconnected and influenced subtly to each other. Born into a family with backgrounds of geology and microorganism genes-one studies about the destiny of rocks, the other observes the essence of life; seldom did her parents talk about science before her. It was via those short intervals by casual and by the way provided that Wang Yanlyn with a little chance to intact with places like laboratory, sterile room, and specimen room. And it was at the dark specimen cabinet and the dazzling bright within the lab, the vagueness composed by soaking, collection or growing method has opened up her horizons since childhood, and emerged to her dream in fantastic form and peculiar logic, which greatly impacted her focus point and world outlook. Going through diversified artistic progress, a long-hidden potential has called her, approached her and eventually met her.

 

As a resonant vibration in geology and microorganism－Rock is a permanent and variant material from nature. Its seemingly unchangeable constitution and stillness has laid the foundation of “change” and “motion” in Wang Yanlyn’s works; They were, damaged and eroded by the nature but survived afterwards, rebirthed by mobility and restructure, which was the nature of how her art pieces being generated. She referred to scientific research methodology as inducement, extraction, reconstruction, and analogy; analogous yet deviant, played the role as nature and applied a personal preference to conceptual art beyond science experience, saving the nearly dying specimen back to the world, and made them become alive. Her unique “restoration” and “structuration” process coexists science and art into one. As if their life-long purpose was to encounter with each other and live together. While rock itself and its fictional breath keep deriving and evolving in a mutually attracted and coexisted status.

 

During the two years from 2009 to 2010, Wang Yanlyn transformed from pure painting to conceptual explore on image. For her, image is a familiar media to all people, whereas there still remains infinite underdeveloped era in terms of artistic creation. Among which, the transformation of image and its renewed meaning that accompanied with her has becoming a primary link. Since the earlier stage of wearing off Series, she attempted to apply diversified physical and chemical means to destroy photos and interrupt images, pursuing the possibilities by the weakening vision and imagery variation. It was a precious mother piece both conceptually and methodically, based on which she developed her mixed-media Specimen series and conceptual image Isomorphism series. Among those pure materialistic aesthetic works which filled with hidden mathematic rules, Wang Yanlyn, appeared as an observer with a Hubble space telescope viewing into the entire universe, constructing people, land, plant, rock, and microscopic status into her own mystical paralyzed Cosmo. Discovering inherent laws of things behind the scenes has left indelibly trace in her personal art history.

 

Since the beginning, R was in confusion and without form. Specimen [R-r] and [R-struct] are originated from the evolvement of the past geology, by means of the present delicateness and exclamation, to dialogue with the history by fiction and retelling, thus evolving Wang Yanlyn’s unique art language in the constant endeavor of structing.