At the Jungle’s Edge
Huang Zhiyang’s New Series: Zoon-Dreamscape
Wang Jiaji
Zoon-Dreamscape, is Huang Zhiyang’s latest series, published in 2008, and differing from his Zoon – Beijing Creatures series, done in a mono-color, ink-wash style, and largely completed over the past two years in Beijing. The composition of the present Zoon-Dreamscape, is an experiment in which layers of color ink are initially splashed onto the surface in a lyrical, free-stroke, brush-and-ink form. During this process, a large quantity of water is gradually added, and, as it seeps through the canvas of stiff silk layers, creates a composition of multi-colored tones. The final result presents an effect of overlapping colors; a work containing layers of rich shades.
Both of Huang’s Zoon series were created using the technique of Expressionism. However, his earlier series, Zoon – Beijing Creatures, displays a primal and simple style of images, as if a basic unicellular theme has duplicated, metamorphosed, and reproduced, to create images of organisms resembling people, flowers, and trees. In Zoon-Dreamscape, these simulated forms of people, flowers, and trees, which were initially completed in a mono-color ink-wash style, have become the basic and essential structure of the series. Layers of colored ink, diluted with generous amounts of water, create an overwhelming visual effect. As a result, the simulated structural images of people, flowers, and trees have, in turn, become overshadowed and vague, thereby creating a sense of disappearing, or even of a crisis being concealed. Psychologically, this visual effect created by the overlapping colors in Huang Zhiyang’s Zoon-Dreamscape, leaves viewers with a feeling of oppression and suffocation.
As a matter of fact, since the end of the 1980s, the metamorphosed flower theme can be seen from time to time in Huang Zhiyang’s use of color; for example in the Image Ecosystem series (1988) and Flowers Are Not Flowers series (1992). The manner in which these are expressed is strongly influenced by the location of his home on Yangmingshan, above the Taipei basin. During that time, his close observation of the local botanical ecosystem enabled him to achieve insights and inspiration for creating his visual images. However, it is interesting to note that although he was inspired by Nature, his use of color was the diametric opposite of natural color. Instead, he tends to apply bright colors, which are artificial, almost to the point of deliberately displaying the contrast between natural beauty and the kitsch of artificial colors.
In 1998, Huang Zhiyang organized an exhibition, “Taipei’s Backyard”, held at the Grass Mountain Chateau on Yangmingshan. For this exhibition, he covered the walls and roof of the historic presidential residence with green felt rug, actually an industrial product, and called it “Green Light”. The offensive industrial “green” color of the rug constituted a polar opposite to the natural “green” shades of Yangmingshan. The latter allow people to breathe naturally and with ease, while the former is but a mass-produced industrial item. Huang Zhiyang covered the building with this artificial color and bizarre substance to the point of brutality. It blocked the possibility of holding a dialogue between Man and history and created an unnatural, or even an anti-natural feeling amidst the natural surroundings of Yangmingshan. In fact, Huang Zhiyang was using “Nature” as a means of inspiring people to reflect on the social environment and cultural landmarks.
After he created his installation artwork, the Green Light, Huang Zhiyang continued his great enthusiasm for the green ecosystem of the natural world. Since 2000, he has taken it a step further by trying to transfer natural phenomena to his art exhibitions with his insight towards life. In 2001, his installation artwork, Lichen, was an example of this type of creative work. Moreover, by filming through a microscope, he has been able to record the activities of underwater fungi and develop these into a video installation work entitled, I am a cute germs (sic). It seems that the growth and ecosystem of moss, lichen, and fungi, have played a subtle role in Huang Zhiyang’s art experiments.
Generally speaking, moss, lichen, or fungi are all regarded as lower life forms. Their growth is closely linked to a dank, moist environment, or even stagnant water. Most people have a negative impression of moss, lichen, or fungi because of their ability to thrive in an unhealthy environment. They are even considered as symptoms of some forms of disease. They are not only resilient, but difficult to eradicate, and to some degree embody a breath of death, which is difficult to ignore.
Huang Zhiyang’s new painting series, Zoon-Dreamscape, can also be regarded as a continuation of his earlier color-ink works. Moreover, the theme of this series is closely linked with the above-mentioned two installation works, completed in 1998 and 2001, and related to the green ecosystem. The difference is that set against the background of that era, the Green Light can not only be seen as a political history of Taiwan’s White Terror, it also seems to mock and criticize DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) administration of the Taipei City Government during that time. On the other hand, in 2008, Zoon-Dreamscape, focuses on the inner vision of the painting and the discovery and representation of the psyche. It has no connection with, nor is it in any way related to political ideology and issues.
When compared with the previous two installation works, Lichen (1998) and I am a cute germs (sic) (2001), the symbolic visual idiom or metaphor of Zoon – A Closer Look, is neither expressed by the objective growth or changes in Nature, nor the imitation of natural ecosystem. Like all his ink-wash painting in the Zoon series, Zoon-Dreamscape embodies a strong expressionist style. In the earlier Zoon series, Huang’s handling of images evinced a strong sense of subjectivity coupled with impressive brush skills. In other words, although the ink-wash images in his earlier Zoon series can be viewed as an example of, “the brush moves as the artist wills”, the “will” of the artist hints that the artist is already sufficiently self-aware, with a social viewpoint or judgment, of sorts. When it comes to Zoon-Dreamscape, Huang Zhiyang has added color to his composition, thereby dramatically changing the atmosphere of this work.
It is easy to see that compared with the images and clarity of brush- and-ink in his earlier Zoon series, the generous use of water in Zoon-Dreamscape has resulted in overlapping colors. As a result, the compositions are vague, blurry, and ambiguous. The painting idiom in Huang Zhiyang’s new series also differs from that of his previous work. The visual focus of the prior Zoon series was the simulated human image standing in the middle of the painting. However, in Zoon-Dreamscape, thanks to the flowing movement of extensive bright and vivid colors, the visual focus of the painting is no longer singular and specific. The arrangement in this series also differs from Huang’s earlier work, One Thousand Hidden Souls, completed in 2003 and 2004. In this series, the elements he chose to display in his composition clearly reveal a spatial order. However, in the Zoon-Dreamscape series, although one can’t say the composition is chaotic, the entire painting lacks focus. It betrays a kind of anxiety and feeling of crisis caused by disorder.
If we view the Zoon – Beijing Creatures series as a group of social portraits, then Zoon-Dreamscape, is more like a reflection of the overall social environment and atmosphere, and entirely the subjective view of the artist. Regarding the visual idiom and the associated thoughts it gives rise to, some of the paintings in Zoon-Dreamscape, give one the impression of a primal jungle with intertwining vines. These vines choke the entire painting, leaving the viewer with a sense of no way out, perhaps even giving rise to a feeling of being trapped and slowly suffocated by vines.
The world in Zoon-Dreamscape is similar to a primal jungle. It dominates the view, creating a no-way-out feeling. It seems that one is about to be submerged or overwhelmed. Huang once talked about the technique used in this series. He stated that he had made generous use of the flowing movement of water. He first “flooded” his painting, then as it gradually dried, he applied layers of colors, again and again. By repeating this process many times, he was able to create overlapping colors and give depth to the painting. Huang Zhiyang said that he would first randomly “create a space and then proceed to break it”. This “random” act seems to imply a state of creation somewhere between “automatic” and “unintentional”.
In the composition of Zoon-Dreamscape, Huang Zhiyang has created a sense of visual disorientation. Not only is one reluctant to enter the jungle, it is impossible to penetrate. Precisely because of this, Zoon-Dreamscape seems to have become a series of walls blocking one’s view. One may feel that there are some spaces where entry is feasible, but these also give rise to concern and fear regarding the next step. This psychological sensation, brought on by vision, of being lost in an impenetrable jungle is due to the overlapping colors in the painting. Moreover, Huang Zhiyang’s choice of colors summons to mind thoughts of lichen or fungi. In his own words, it seems that the very air is permeated with a “beautiful but pathological violence”.
Therefore, when standing before the paintings in the Zoon-Dreamscape series, it is not difficult for the viewer, or even the artist himself, to sense an indescribable sense of being “marginalized”. It is similar to the way one might feel at the edge of a jungle: a tangle of vines, moss, lichen, and fungi block the way, denying them a view both of what lies ahead and of the future. The edge of the jungle has become wall after wall obscuring one’s view, giving an impression of how difficult it would be to inch forward, or even a sensation of being unable to breathe, and thus a sense of submerged.
Psychologically, the Zoon-Dreamscape series has perhaps revealed the artist’s feelings of being marginalized to some degree. It embodies a nagging anxiety towards space, mixed with trepidation and foreboding. If we regard the Zoon – Beijing Creatures series as Huang Zhiyang’s cold-eyed view of social conditions in the city of Beijing, then Zoon-Dreamscape, can be seen as a projection of the artist’s own intuitive apprehension and uneasiness about settling down in Beijing…
