Yang Xiaojian

Biography

Yang XiaoJian,

(born in 1960, Shanghai )

Subverting conventions while inventing his own language, like his forbears, he works with black ink on rice paper. He adjusts his ways of looking at things however, drapes them in novelty and ensures transmission. Forms and thickness of brush strokes, with here and there, little touches of humor, hand up in the air.

Yang XiaoJian, born in 1960 in Taiyuan, the capital city of the province of Shanxi, defines himself first as a calligrapher and draws his inspiration from nature, for which he nurtures a deep respect. A master in his art in China, the artist has gone beyond traditional expression to embrace a more singular conception inspired by Western painters, Jean Dubuffet, Andy Warhol, Yves Klein and even Marcel Duchamp.

Feeling close to Victor Segalen's personality he created an ideogram that epitomizes the poet-sinologist. The homage is magnificent. The artist also subverts the tradition of landscape painting. The powerful suggestiveness of black and white is used to transcribe the bare landscapes of central Brittany. Despite the small formats, the density of black turns his nocturnal landscapes into monumental works. If black occupies a dominant place in his work, it is because it expresses obscurity and force. “Juxtaposition brings an effect of calm and transcendence”, he says.

Yang XiaoJian won the Beijing Grand Prize for calligraphy in 1989

Exhibitions selected

Solo Exhibitions

2013 - Casa Pasquee, Lugano, Suisse

2013 - Kloster Marientha, Kolon, Allemagne

2007 - Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japon

2006 - Art Gallery de Noth Kamakura, Tokyo, Japon

2005 - Base of Ink, N°50 Moganshan Road, Shanghai, Chine

Groupe exhibitions

2017 - Ailleurs est ici, École des Filles-Espace d'art, Huelgoat

2016 - 100 ans de stèles, Galerie Françoise Livinec, Paris

2011 - International Calligraphy Exhibition, Wiesbaden Allemagne
2010 - Context Calligraphy Exhibition, Musée National des Beaux Arts, Pékin, Chine

2005 - International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Mulpa Art Center, Séoul, Corée du Sud

Bibliography

2011 - Fan Di'an, D. Paskett, Tang Feng, Black Sight, Yang XiaoJian collection
2007 - Makang, Men Cong, MY 2007, Yang XiaoJian collection
2006 - Fan Di'an, Liu Xiao-Chun, Tang Feng, My Empire of the Sun, Pen calligraphy collection
2005 - Picture of triturate the Ink, Construct the Ink Map, Modern calligraphy collection