6 Profile


and are they somehow connected? NY: I compare myself to somebody owning a piece of land, where I planted different types of trees which are growing at their own pace, some of them faster, some of them slower. Of course, in a way, they are independent from one another, as they are different kinds of plants, but as they share the same soil in the process of growing, their roots are getting intertwined in a complex way. It is the same with my practice, where each series is connected. Tey come across in different ways, using different material, but representing the same type of image. Some are based on a different methodology, but they are following the same logic and at the end of the day, they are all intertwined. As a contemporary artist, I have


often been asked about my connection with the time I am living in. I find it very hard to explain and to answer the question, because according to my experience and to the art works I make, I can easily connect my practice to what is happening today. However, one can also solely see me as a person making forests and planting trees waiting for them to grow. Te artworks I choose to complete are the ones that are not restricted by time, that I can complete today or in 10 years from now without having them being affected by the time factor.


AAN: At this stage, are there some series that are finished, or are they all ongoing? NY: I continue all the series I have initiated, but, of course, I will make adjustments according to the way my practice is evolving. For example, I will probably do the coin series again later, when I have time, or new


ideas. As an artist, I have my entire life ahead of me to explore and develop new ideas. However, as I am not Jeff Koons with a factory working for me, many of my series will depend upon my ability to carry on my skills considering the aging of my body. Te coins series is a good example, as once I get older, I do not know if my hands or my eyes can continue to handle the work. Over time, certain series will probably be suspended because of aging which is in the nature of things.


AAN: Te series of the stones is one of the oldest in your practice. How did it originally come about? NY: I had the idea of making the photograph with a waterfall stone when I found my first waterfall stone. At the time, I was not sure whether I could find enough of them for a series of art works. It took me three years to gather this type of waterfall stone through all possible ways, be it auctions, or by just finding them in nature. Teoretically, artists are not


creators, as they did not invent anything new out of what we already have on earth. In my opinion, nature is the biggest creator and compared to nature, an artist should rather be seen as an explorer, finding interesting things among what we already have, presenting them under a new light with a new perspective for the viewer. To me, that is the real mission of the artist. All the stones in my art works are not altered by me in any way, as I have not worked on them. Te only thing I do is to present you with the stones in a way that offers you a different outlook. In order to achieve that different outlook, I created a whole setup in the studio for the stone: I choose the


proper lightening for each stone according to the shape and the position of the waterfall. I created artificial smokes with cloud-like artificial effects. None of the clouds, or the fog on the photograph, are done in Photoshop. All effects are real, but staged according to artificial methods. Ultimately, we end up with the following result: an unreal waterfall landscape, which is real in a different way. Tis is why I named it End of the Second, as taking the photograph to push the button only takes one second, whereas it took years and perhaps millions of years to have the traces of the waterfall on the stone.


AAN: Besides the media you have been working with, is there a particular medium you would like to explore? NY: I would love to explore the possibilities of working with wax.


AAN: As you take a broader look at the art world, and note how it is developing and where it is going, where do you see your contribution? NY: In that respect, let me quote a traditional Chinese poem. Te idea of the poem is that you cannot see the whole view of the mountain because you are in the mountain. Tat is precisely how I feel about the contemporary art world, although I am not that familiar with it. On the contrary, I am more familiar with the world of art history. In that sense, you certainly noticed that I named the forest paintings View of History. I have been asked many times how I came to represent a view of history through a forest with all the labels on the painting indicating years of birth and death of a master either of a philosopher, a thinker or a painter. To


me, this is a true incarnation of history, not only art history, but the general history of civilization. For example, if you are a Renaissance artist, you cannot see what is ahead of you or behind you (as a Renaissance artist, you cannot distinguish the Enlightenment artists), but you can see the artist and the forest immediately before you. Perhaps if you are born years later, you have a broader view of the forest, but the part of the forest which is further away becomes fuzzy because of the distance. Tis blurriness is linked to our limitations as human beings.


AAN: In some of your paintings, you are dealing with a rendering of the space where you previously had an exhibition. Considering that your sense of perspective is extremely accurate, do you have a strong interest in architecture? NY: It is an interesting coincidence that you mention it because my father teaches architecture at university. I was taught by my father how to read maps and how to deal with perspective when I was five years old. Tis is how from a young age I grew up with a fairly good sense of architectural understanding.


AAN: Your present work frequently relies on contradictions. Has it always been like that? NY: Tere is a series that I did not get a chance to show lately that also features many contradictions: Inches of Time, which involves a series of rulers I completed. I did not make the measurement marks according to accurate standards, but more according to what I felt represented one centimetre. In the end, of course, the result is different from a regular


ruler, but it should rather be seen as a ruler of time and as a ruler of biological subjective feeling. To me, there are many levels of contradiction: it is a measurement that is commonly used as reference, but I am taking advantage of the fact that I am an artist with the freedom to make something very subjective that nevertheless looks like a very serious and precise work of art. Tere are many layers of contradiction that I find very interesting.


AAN: Your series Inches of Time of course reminds me of the work of another artist who has completed a work based on rulers: Marcel Duchamp. Overall, did Duchamp have a strong impact on your work? NY: Duchamp had quite a big impact, mainly on my way of thinking, especially with that level of scepticism, which influenced me a lot. However, more than Duchamp, zen masters, and the philosophy of zen, have been fundamental. Tey are really the masters of scepticism and through that very process, they are discovering the essence of things or of certain subjects.


AAN: You are still a young artist, yet you have been part of the art world for a number of years. How would you say has your work changed over the years? NY: I reflect on myself and on my practice quite frequently, every two to three years, and every year I have many ideas that I compile in a sketchbook that I carry with me all the time. I compare myself to a tree which is constantly growing and coming up with new ideas, but which needs to be trimmed every now and then so that through reflection, only the best ideas are selected out of that massive output.


ASIAN ART NOVEMBER 2017


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