GALLERY REVIEW

I visited the Nevada Museum of Art during mid-April to view the exhibits and see what other artists, local and foreign, were creating. It was my first time visiting the museum, and I was eager to survey the works of art on display.

I was on the fence about most of the exhibits at the museum. In general, I didn’t really like most of them. It wasn’t that they weren’t any good, it was more so that they were pieces that I couldn’t really make a connection or relate to.

One exhibit, on the other hand, was one that I was immediately drawn to when I stumbled upon. It was entitled “Views From China” by Yang Yongliang, a young artist from Shanghai, China. Yongliang combines traditional Chinese paintings with the modern Shanghai city life and the details reveal current urban culture.

I was immediately drawn to this exhibit because I felt like it was something that I could relate to and, in my eyes, the pieces were aesthetically pleasing. At first glance, Yongliang’s pieces look just like traditional Chinese paintings depicting Chinese landscapes and a collection of what looked like an explosion above a cityscape.

But upon closer examination I noticed that these simple landscapes and explosions had much more to them. The landscapes were cleverly crafted from digital photographs of China’s bustling cities, and then manipulated into haunting imaginary landscapes that critique China’s rapidly changing built environment.

Yongliang depends heavily on his a camera and a laptop computer to make his art, similar to what I enjoy doing with my artwork. Using only these tools—and a knowledge of traditional Chinese painting traditions—Yongliang invents urban scenes that depict skyscrapers under construction, freeway systems, electrical power plants, and bustling urban corridors. His compositions starkly reveal the impacts of technological progress that China has undergone over past decades.

Beyond these pieces being aesthetically pleasing, I think I really enjoyed them because subconsciously I am attracted to art that hides a deeper meaning that challenges the viewer to really look at the artwork and think critically about what it represents. Yongliang’s pieces do just that and inspire me to try to do something similar in my own way.