YANG MIAN 杨 冕
  • CV 简介
    • 中文简历
  • solo exhibition 个人展览
    • 2025/Essential Colors & Awaken/原色.唤醒
    • 2024/Awaken Yang Mian/唤醒 杨冕/
    • 2023/照见.杨冕 Yang Mian Illuminating
    • 2020 /Yang Mian Solo/2.6 Million Dots and Western Art history 杨冕个展《二百六十万个点和西方艺术史》
    • 2020 /Yang Mian CMYK 杨冕-“C。M。Y。K”
    • 2016 /CMYK:Paintings by Yang Mian 杨冕的绘画
    • 2016 /Yang Mian 2016 杨冕 2016
    • 2012/ CMYK-Yang Mian Painting 杨 冕 的 绘 画
    • 2008 /Posing YangMian 2007-2008 姿态 2007-2008 >
      • works in exhibition place/展览现场
      • Special Project / 特别项目
    • 2008 / Classical 那些经典
    • 2008 / From Classic to Standard 从标准到经典
    • 2007 / Classical 那些经典
    • 2006/ 2005 Yangmian`s standard. 2005年杨冕眼中的标准
    • 2004 Beauty Standard / 美丽标准
    • 2004 2003 Yang Mian's Standard / 2003年杨冕眼中的标准
    • 2003 Made in Beijing-House Standard / 北京制造-建筑标准
    • 2002 Made in Chengdu/成都制造
    • 2001 I deal Building Standards/理想的建筑“标准”
    • 1999 The Beauty Standard / 美好标准
    • 1998 Yang mian`s solo exhibition / 杨冕个展
  • exhibition 展览
    • Museum exhibition / 美术馆展览
    • Other exhibition / 其他展览
    • Art fair 艺术博览会
  • works 作 品
    • 2023 照见 . 杨冕 Yang Mian:Illuminating
    • 2010-2019 CMYK Chronology of works 作品年表 >
      • Nine Dragons 九龙图
      • 一千八百万个点Chinese temple view murals in 18 million points -Yang Mian`s works 中的中国寺观壁画 杨冕 作 品
      • M.A.M 金钱/艺术/博物馆
      • Yang Mian’s 2,624,757 CMYK points and Western art history 杨 冕 的2,624,757个CMYK点和 西方艺术史
      • Ma Yuan Ten Thousand Riplets on the Yangzi 马远 水图
      • CMYK-Yuan Zhao Mengfu Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains(元 赵孟頫 鹊华秋色图 局部),Acryli on canvas,320x1400cm,2010,Yang mian Party
    • 2006-2008 Welcome -China cultural revolution Chronology of works 来中国-文化的革命 作品年表
    • 1997-2005 standard 标准系列 >
      • Beauty Standard 美丽“标准”
      • House Standard 建筑“标准”
  • texts 文章
    • 2024 唤醒/祝羽捷
    • 2023 鲁明军/世俗与神圣:“CMYK”在吉本岗
    • 2021 杜曦云/眼见为虚-杨冕的视觉追问 杜曦云
    • 2021 杨冕作品:从“视觉民主性”定义下的CMYK到“视觉民主性”定义下的RGB
    • 2020 从深刻的名字到数字,从在意作品后面的意义到强调观看者的视觉民主&#
    • 2011 吕澎 / 视觉的标准与观念——杨冕的艺术
    • 2011皮力 / CMYK 色点与图像:关于杨冕新作三个关键词的笔记
    • 2011 鲁明军 / “CMYK”:“元图像”实验 与视觉考古
    • 2011 林似竹 / 杨冕揭示我们时代的本质
    • 2011 殷嫣与杨冕的对话
    • 2007 皮力 / 从经典到标准
    • 2007 郑乃铭 回荡在历史与现实的新疏离现象—读杨冕的艺术
    • 2006 李旭 / 标准之谜
    • 2006 皮力/ “标准”背后
    • 2006 与中国当代社会同步的有“标准”的审美 ------杨冕访谈录
    • 2004 孙哲/如果你能理解蒙娜丽莎在笑什么,那我就能知道她们在想什么?
    • 2004 黄燎原/给个理由先
    • 2003 黄 笃 / 城市与制造的“标准” —读杨冕的作品
    • 2002 致房地产商和建筑师 杨 冕
    • 1999 皮 力 / 美好标准
    • 1998 易 英 / 流行文化与个人话语从杨冕的创作谈起
    • 1998 哈拉德.森曼 / 杨冕的中国当代艺术奖金评语
    • English >
      • 2024 XiNa/YANG Mian: Exploring the New Frontier of Digital Painting Through the Prism of Viewing Mechanisms
      • 2024 Jerome/YANG Mian Awakening the Visual World
      • 2023 YUAN Haixia/Poetic and Artistic Scenes Amidst the Hustle and Bustle: What I Saw in Jebum-Gang Art Center
      • 2023 The Secular and the Sacred: CMYK at Jebumgang/Lu Mingjun
      • 2020 Hu Wenyan talk/Interview with YANG Mian, Chinese artist who wants “democratize the visual art”
      • 2020 YANG Mian: Let More Ordinary Viewers Truly Connect with Art work
      • 2011 Seeing Is Not Believing: Yang Mian’s Investigations of Vision/ Du Xiyun
      • 2011 Britta Erickson / Yang Mian Exposes an Essential Truth for Our Era
      • 2011 Lu Mingjun/ CMYK: Experiments in Metapictures and Visual Archeology
      • 2007 Pili / From Classic to Standard
      • 2006 Lixu / Secret of Standard  Li Xu
      • 2006 /“the standard” of Chinese esthetics with the contemporary society -Yangmian’s interview
      • 2004 Sunzhe / If you can understand what Mona Lisa is smiling about, then I will know what you are thinking.
      • 2004 Huang Liaoyuan/Give Me A Reason Firstly
      • 2003 Cities and Manufactured “Standards”: Yang Mian’s Work Huang Du
      • 1999 PI LI / THE IDEAL STANDARD
      • 1998 Harald Szeemann/ CCAA Comment for Yang mian
  • Public project 公共项目
  • publications 出版
    • 国际媒体 Inter national Midia
    • 个人画册 Personal exhibition album
    • 重要公共出版 Important publications
    • Media 媒体
  • Forums and public services 论坛及公共服务
  • 联系 contact
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • 2025 Essential Colors & Awaken

Cities and Manufactured “Standards”: 
Yang Mian’s Work
 Huang Du  
Standards are subjective and man-made. But what do we mean by “standards”? A standard is simultaneously a fixed measure, something deemed proper and acceptable, or a criterion against which all other objects are assessed. A standard is a scientifically precise measure that effects an illusion of unity. A standard also encompasses specific value systems, and a particular level for both measurement and representation. Yet from the perspective of the sociology of art, a standard is something much looser and conceptually mixed.
Yang Mian’s oeuvre includes the works titled “Standards for Youth”, “Standard Family” and “Standards for Plumpness and Gracefulness”, a series of paintings completed in the late 1990s. He created “standards” for pop art, drawing from and analysing images from popular culture, consumer culture and public culture. This series of paintings focused on the standards by which people are assessed, and in turn assess themselves. “Standards for Youth” treated standards of appearance; “Standards for Plumpness and Gracefulness” illustrated the standards of weight imposed on the human body; and “Standard Family” dealt with standards dictating human identity and belonging. These works are all studies of social pedigree revealing a deeper and ostensibly hidden layering of standards. Who formulates these standards? Do they have anything to do with financial clout and political power? Yang Mian treats these aesthetic behavioural standards as momentary, temporary and relative, rather than as immutable criteria. The images he produced are subjective selections and reinterpretations, rather than faithful replications of external forms. They are ironic, sceptical and critical takes on standards. Implicit in notions of standard appearances and body shapes are the urges to imitation, with an overriding regulation and control reflecting social and political forces driven by desire and profit. Yang Mian’s paintings might resemble pop art stylistically, but their implicit critique is unveiled through his comments on standards. His “standard” family of three members suggests the one-child nuclear familial unit dictated by national ideology. “Standards” upheld by youth of what is popular or fashionable are devices of the mass media for commercial control and profit. Yet Yang Mian’s art eschews a heavy-handed didactic narrative, relying instead on implied and abstracted conceptualisations. His personal style has broken new ground in Chinese painting. 
 “Standards” are essentially an urban – rather than rural - phenomenon, with cities being the centres of material consumerism. Urban expansion is denoted and signified through construction, and concomitant “standards” are devised that influence and affect people’s lives. Different times and places draw on particularised sets of standards. In the 1950s, Chinese urban construction took Soviet-style architecture as the standard, while the 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of “replicant” piled-up “match-box” buildings with reflective glass and ceramic tile facings. Yang Mian’s interest in cities reflects broader, complex social issues, explored not only through his paintings but also through other new media. The focus of Yang Mian’ s social engagement ranges from standards of personal appearance to those that govern urban construction. He advocates an architecture through which people can find self-expression, Yang Mian being acutely aware of the conflicts and clashes rapid urbanisation in China has brought. The last decade of urbanisation has seen near-wanton city destruction and social reorganisation. Lifestyles and life patterns change all aspects of China - historical memory, customs, the body politic and the politicised body. 
In July 2002, Yang Mian embarked on creating a series titled “Reflections on the Culture of Standards in China: Standards for Ideal Residential Property Development”. He began by examining architectural standards in several major cities. The first was Chengdu, with which he’ s most familiar. “Made in Chengdu” was a group of scaled down model buildings from more than ten property development projects in Chengdu. They were constructed from iron sheeting and housed in Chengdu Painting Academy, a courtyard mansion built at the end of the Qing Dynasty. At night, candles lit the miniaturised buildings so that they resembled a cluster of urban dwellings viewed telescopically from a great distance. On close examination, the density of this “standard” residential community seemed to forge ideally harmonious relationships between human beings and the natural environment. The work was intentionally imposing. As Yang Mian pointed out, “The construction in our cities fulfils the plans of property developers in conformity with urban planning. But what developers seek are profits and what they market are merely concepts.” By contrasting the historical courtyard house in which his models were placed, Yang Mian used his venue as an ironic underscoring of modern construction “standards” in Chengdu. Such a contrast highlighted contemporary design problems and set audiences thinking about whether the formulators of architectural “standards” have the best interests of humans in mind and whether they even address people’s needs.
In 2004, Yang Mian switched his attention to Beijing. “Made in Beijing” is his further take on the “standards” of cities, and is a development from his earlier “Made in Chengdu”. Yang Mian regards Beijing as the most urbanised of Chinese cities, one where the urban landscape is disappearing most rapidly and the greatest number of urban construction projects are underway. The city’s fate arouses the most concerned reactions, and despite the talk little concrete salvage action takes place. The construction of nondescript “standard” architecture is a long-standing urban development problem. In Beijing buildings with little distinctive character are designated “Garden Villa Estates”, “Euro-Style Mansions”, “Urban Rivieras”, “Romanian Gardens”, “Parisian Chateaux” and the like. The terms reflect “standards” generated by hegemonic commercial culture, designed to stimulate and manipulate the desires of consumers. Within China’ s  cultural context, the use of such terms reflects a loss of historical sense, and in the wake of such a loss, what culture can serve to sustain a city? Yang Mian’s artwork is a critical response to this question. His installation comprises two sections. The first, titled “Buildings Flown in from Beijing”, presents wooden models of Beijing’s residential communities shrouded in Chinese rice paper like traditional lanterns in which holes are cut. Eleven models are being hung in the Red Gate Gallery, creating a “mirage” of an urban centre. For the second part of this work for Red Gate, Yang Mian has reproduced the landmark architectural “standard” of Beijing. Titled “Beijing Rocket”, this 6 m high scaled replica of the “Mingtai Centre”, the tallest building in Beijing, will be left to rot away over the next five years – in Beijing. The progressive oxidisation and decay of the model over the next half-decade will graphically demonstrate how no “standards” – architectural or otherwise - can remain fixed and unchanging. The work is a metaphor of the uncertainty, constant mutability and illusory nature of standards. This work of art-as-process focuses on what is minimal and concise; the process of production necessarily entails change, not infinity. As Yang Mian points out, “standards constantly change”; they are relative and fleeting in their representation of all hierarchies and order. Yang Mian’s urban “Standards” document two zones of competition and contrast: the competition between cities and cities, and communities and communities; the contrast between Dongbianmen Watchtower dating from the Ming dynasty and the “standard’ buildings of Beijing, and the competition between the traditional and the modern.
 
Yang Mian suspects standards of urban architecture more than many other categories of standards. By contrasting and correlating history and society in different urban cultural contexts, Yang Mian draws the public into an open discussion of urban cultural issues. His work embraces several media - architecture, installation and sculpture, and initiates an open dialogue between an artist and his public. His public becomes THE public in issues of shared concern. 
 
(Carol Lu tr.; Bruce Doar ed.)
 END.

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  • CV 简介
    • 中文简历
  • solo exhibition 个人展览
    • 2025/Essential Colors & Awaken/原色.唤醒
    • 2024/Awaken Yang Mian/唤醒 杨冕/
    • 2023/照见.杨冕 Yang Mian Illuminating
    • 2020 /Yang Mian Solo/2.6 Million Dots and Western Art history 杨冕个展《二百六十万个点和西方艺术史》
    • 2020 /Yang Mian CMYK 杨冕-“C。M。Y。K”
    • 2016 /CMYK:Paintings by Yang Mian 杨冕的绘画
    • 2016 /Yang Mian 2016 杨冕 2016
    • 2012/ CMYK-Yang Mian Painting 杨 冕 的 绘 画
    • 2008 /Posing YangMian 2007-2008 姿态 2007-2008 >
      • works in exhibition place/展览现场
      • Special Project / 特别项目
    • 2008 / Classical 那些经典
    • 2008 / From Classic to Standard 从标准到经典
    • 2007 / Classical 那些经典
    • 2006/ 2005 Yangmian`s standard. 2005年杨冕眼中的标准
    • 2004 Beauty Standard / 美丽标准
    • 2004 2003 Yang Mian's Standard / 2003年杨冕眼中的标准
    • 2003 Made in Beijing-House Standard / 北京制造-建筑标准
    • 2002 Made in Chengdu/成都制造
    • 2001 I deal Building Standards/理想的建筑“标准”
    • 1999 The Beauty Standard / 美好标准
    • 1998 Yang mian`s solo exhibition / 杨冕个展
  • exhibition 展览
    • Museum exhibition / 美术馆展览
    • Other exhibition / 其他展览
    • Art fair 艺术博览会
  • works 作 品
    • 2023 照见 . 杨冕 Yang Mian:Illuminating
    • 2010-2019 CMYK Chronology of works 作品年表 >
      • Nine Dragons 九龙图
      • 一千八百万个点Chinese temple view murals in 18 million points -Yang Mian`s works 中的中国寺观壁画 杨冕 作 品
      • M.A.M 金钱/艺术/博物馆
      • Yang Mian’s 2,624,757 CMYK points and Western art history 杨 冕 的2,624,757个CMYK点和 西方艺术史
      • Ma Yuan Ten Thousand Riplets on the Yangzi 马远 水图
      • CMYK-Yuan Zhao Mengfu Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains(元 赵孟頫 鹊华秋色图 局部),Acryli on canvas,320x1400cm,2010,Yang mian Party
    • 2006-2008 Welcome -China cultural revolution Chronology of works 来中国-文化的革命 作品年表
    • 1997-2005 standard 标准系列 >
      • Beauty Standard 美丽“标准”
      • House Standard 建筑“标准”
  • texts 文章
    • 2024 唤醒/祝羽捷
    • 2023 鲁明军/世俗与神圣:“CMYK”在吉本岗
    • 2021 杜曦云/眼见为虚-杨冕的视觉追问 杜曦云
    • 2021 杨冕作品:从“视觉民主性”定义下的CMYK到“视觉民主性”定义下的RGB
    • 2020 从深刻的名字到数字,从在意作品后面的意义到强调观看者的视觉民主&#
    • 2011 吕澎 / 视觉的标准与观念——杨冕的艺术
    • 2011皮力 / CMYK 色点与图像:关于杨冕新作三个关键词的笔记
    • 2011 鲁明军 / “CMYK”:“元图像”实验 与视觉考古
    • 2011 林似竹 / 杨冕揭示我们时代的本质
    • 2011 殷嫣与杨冕的对话
    • 2007 皮力 / 从经典到标准
    • 2007 郑乃铭 回荡在历史与现实的新疏离现象—读杨冕的艺术
    • 2006 李旭 / 标准之谜
    • 2006 皮力/ “标准”背后
    • 2006 与中国当代社会同步的有“标准”的审美 ------杨冕访谈录
    • 2004 孙哲/如果你能理解蒙娜丽莎在笑什么,那我就能知道她们在想什么?
    • 2004 黄燎原/给个理由先
    • 2003 黄 笃 / 城市与制造的“标准” —读杨冕的作品
    • 2002 致房地产商和建筑师 杨 冕
    • 1999 皮 力 / 美好标准
    • 1998 易 英 / 流行文化与个人话语从杨冕的创作谈起
    • 1998 哈拉德.森曼 / 杨冕的中国当代艺术奖金评语
    • English >
      • 2024 XiNa/YANG Mian: Exploring the New Frontier of Digital Painting Through the Prism of Viewing Mechanisms
      • 2024 Jerome/YANG Mian Awakening the Visual World
      • 2023 YUAN Haixia/Poetic and Artistic Scenes Amidst the Hustle and Bustle: What I Saw in Jebum-Gang Art Center
      • 2023 The Secular and the Sacred: CMYK at Jebumgang/Lu Mingjun
      • 2020 Hu Wenyan talk/Interview with YANG Mian, Chinese artist who wants “democratize the visual art”
      • 2020 YANG Mian: Let More Ordinary Viewers Truly Connect with Art work
      • 2011 Seeing Is Not Believing: Yang Mian’s Investigations of Vision/ Du Xiyun
      • 2011 Britta Erickson / Yang Mian Exposes an Essential Truth for Our Era
      • 2011 Lu Mingjun/ CMYK: Experiments in Metapictures and Visual Archeology
      • 2007 Pili / From Classic to Standard
      • 2006 Lixu / Secret of Standard  Li Xu
      • 2006 /“the standard” of Chinese esthetics with the contemporary society -Yangmian’s interview
      • 2004 Sunzhe / If you can understand what Mona Lisa is smiling about, then I will know what you are thinking.
      • 2004 Huang Liaoyuan/Give Me A Reason Firstly
      • 2003 Cities and Manufactured “Standards”: Yang Mian’s Work Huang Du
      • 1999 PI LI / THE IDEAL STANDARD
      • 1998 Harald Szeemann/ CCAA Comment for Yang mian
  • Public project 公共项目
  • publications 出版
    • 国际媒体 Inter national Midia
    • 个人画册 Personal exhibition album
    • 重要公共出版 Important publications
    • Media 媒体
  • Forums and public services 论坛及公共服务
  • 联系 contact
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • 2025 Essential Colors & Awaken