Chinese Shan Shui Tatto Series : Back HUANG YAN

Numbered 5/12.

"CHINESE LANDSCAPES" SERIES

In 1999, Huang Yan began a series of works that immortalized his work of traditional Chinese landscape paintings on the body. In these Chinese Landscapes he uses his own body as a medium to create images that border on painting, performance and photography at the heart of a Chinese culture where the human body and nudity are still considered taboo. By making his works on controversial media Huang Yan also questions the limits of traditional Chinese painting while emphasizing the importance for young artists to be aware of their cultural heritage and to integrate it into their work. In the series of "Chinese Landscape - Tattoo" and "Four Seasons series", Huang Yan then underlines both the possible links between classical painting (the landscapes made by his wife, the artist Zhang Tiemei who followed a classical training) and contemporary (artistic performance and the use of one's own body).

THE ARTIST

Born in Jilin Province in 1966 HUANG YAN is a contemporary Chinese artist. Painter, photographer, sculptor, and performer, he is particularly known for his body paintings which he photographs sometimes staged in a setting. A graduate of Changchun Normal Academy in 1987, he is now a lecturer at Changchun University and lives and works in Beijing.

For more about the artist, click here!