Huang Yong Ping

About a year ago, we went to see a retrospective of works by Huang Yong Ping at the Vancouver Art Gallery.  He builds large installations and I was impressed by several of them, including the “Sand Bank“, a recreation of a Beaux Arts bank built from 40,000lbs of sand.

Quite a few others didn’t work for me and I recall leaving the exhibition without much passion either way.  But I was interested enough to read an interview the artist recently gave to Deborah Nash of the Art Newspaper.   He comes across as an extremely single minded and perhaps interior person, without thought for anything outside his art.

HYP: The viewers’ reaction is not the main concern of the artist, and I left immediately after the opening ceremony, so I don’t know much about people’s responses …

Making art is different from the way businessmen produce their products. They have to invest money to produce and then sell the products to re-invest. But art is not about investing and selling. An artist has an idea, and by coincidence or luck, someone comes along to sponsor the work. Would I have had the same ideas had no one sponsored me? It doesn’t work like this. It so happens that someone is willing to support an artist’s creation. Therefore I never consider the size or the saleability of my works, or whether they are collectible. These are not my concerns …

I think the important thing is that artists should stay well away from authority…I mean from power, stay well away from it, no matter what form or appearance it takes. An artist’s attitude is not about taking part in demonstrations or protests, or to make his views on a certain issue known to the public. Rather, artists should instill their political views in their works. An artist should distance himself from power so that he can think independently …

I never plan. I never feel strongly about anything.