Huang Yong Ping: Generally Unconcerned
July 31, 2008
I recently read The Art Newspaper’s Interview with Huang Yong Ping, whose travelling show is currently on view at the Kunsthallen Brandts in Odense.
In the interview, Huang Yong Ping expresses his general disinterest in the world at large. Reading the article, one imagines the Xiamen, China-born Huang Yong Ping to be practically asleep in his chair during the reporter’s questioning, waving away questions with a flick of the wrist. But really, what does one expect from one of the paramount figures in the Xiamen Dada movement whose incipient work bore the longwinded and noncommittal title of “The History of Chinese Painting and the History of Modern Western Art Washed in the Washing Machine for Two Minutes”?
A few of my favorite quotations from Huang Yong Ping from the Art Newspaper interview:
On his art: “I never feel strongly about anything.”
On the topic of the commercialized, mass-produced “fake” art currently garnering much funding and attention from foreign buyers in China: “By ignoring them they will die out naturally.”
On politics: “An artist should distance himself from power so that he can think independently.”
Although I must express my admiration for the above stated view on the right and necessity for an artist to think independently, reading this interview mainly made me think about how difficult it would be to host a dinner party full of dadaists. They would be so noncommittal.
