2024 Jerome/YANG Mian Awakening the Visual World

YANG Mian Awakening the Visual World
Writer · Jerome
Artists convey information through visual communication. Nowadays, the updates and iterations of media technology are changing the way we experience the world, and the way our eyes see the world. When the proliferation of images often makes people feel numb, the paintings of contemporary artist YANG Mian, however, have never fallen into the group of vulgar images. The dots and lines in his painting stimulate the viewer’s optic nerve and awaken a broader and more spiritual visual world.
Many Dots Make an Image
From a certain distance, YANG Mian’s CMYK series paintings generally appear as classic images with a strong Eastern flavor. Such image in viewers’ eyes, however, dissipates as viewers get closer to the painting. Each part of the painting is entirely composed of abstract dots, which causes spontaneous suspicion of the image left in viewers’ minds in the previous moment. Those hand drawn dots have only four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, which come from the standard system CMYK used in printing. YANG Mian named his series creations after this system and also applied the color separation mode of this system. The cycle of creation is extremely arduous and lengthy. After selecting an image, YANG Mian will sit in front of the computer and arrange colorful dots in the enlarged image. To split an image into nearly 100,000 colorful dots, it will take at least half a month to one and a half months on the premises that YANG Mian works at least 8 hours every day. Afterwards, the artist will convert the painting into an instant sticker engraving file and complete the drawing based on the distribution of dots of different colors.
To translate such a massive amount of colorful dots from the computer to the canvas, it will take an additional two weeks. The repetitive processing of a single element will consume large amounts of physical energy and require intensive attention. In this high-intensity work state, YANG Mian seemed to enter into a spiritual practice. He seemed to be meticulously arranging every grain of sand, or to be twisting prayer beads one by one. YANG Mian has no intention of denying any advanced technology, and he admits that without computers, it would be impossible to realize his ideas. From images to dots, digital technology must be utilized. The so-called “many dots make an image” is to create a piece of art which is ancient and time-consuming with the tools and methods in the current era. Whether far or near, or overall or partial, the four-color dots in the intermediate zone between likeness and unlikeness always revolves around the essence of painting.
In this high-intensity work state,
YANG Mian seemed to enter into a spiritual practice.
He seemed to be meticulously arranging every grain of sand, or to be twisting prayer beads one by one.
YANG Mian has no intention of denying any advanced technology,
And he admits that without computers, it would be impossible to realize his ideas.
Dots do not stick to each other and maintain their original color. The shape and color seen by the viewer are what the visual instinct of their brain automatically processes. Artists cannot direct others’ optic nerves to accomplish this task, so what everyone sees is an image that is exclusive to them. Of course, the CMYK series paintings still involves specific works. YANG Mian often chooses well-known works of art from home and abroad, but this is by no means a tribute to the classics. The internal logic behind his choice of images is a form of pop thinking. These ready-made images are well-known enough to engage the public in the creation process, serving as a channel for communication between creators and viewers. Traditionally, artworks are endowed with content by artists. By contrast, YANG Mian’s paintings produce contents through visual experience. The images formed in this way bring a viewing experience that is completely opposite to conventional paintings: usually, the closer an image is, the clearer it can be seen. On the contrary, the closer YANG Mian’s image is, the more abstract it becomes. In his view, the specific image involves a knowledge system, but what he has created is an experience system. So, the specific content of the image is not very important, and the ultimate goal of his creation is to help viewers experience paintings.
Gather Lights to Reflect Light
Speaking of experiencing paintings, CMYK exists on the surface of paper, and pigments reflect light into the eyes. Nowadays, people are more accustomed to obtaining information through luminous screens. The physiological basis of biological vision is the collaborative work of three types of photoreceptor cells, which are most sensitive to red, green, and blue light, respectively. Trichromacy refers to the color vision to receive colors that are equivalent to visible light at different frequencies when the colors of the three primary colors are combined in different proportions. In fact, the light colors displayed on the screen are never a combination of three primary colors. The brain forces visual physiology to blur images, and perceives colors through focus modulation. Based on the above principles and inspiration, YANG Mian created the RGB series, reflecting on the shaping of contemporary visual culture by luminous interfaces.
The colorful dots in the CMYK series are transformed into thin lines of red, green, and blue colors in the RGB series. The lines are only one millimeter wide and evenly distributed. The image display mechanism of electronic media is the conscious fusion of three primary colors. YANG Mian deliberately scattered the light color to prevent them from merging, and the concrete image disappeared as a result. In a state of no integration, we are invited to enjoy the moment of visual persistence. During the process of creation, YANG Mian would first draw a painting and hang it on the wall. By constantly opening and closing the lights, and opening and closing the eyes, the collection of lines left an afterimage on the retina of viewers. Although it is difficult to record a perfect afterimage, YANG Mian only intended to the possibility of providing another different afterimage. He encouraged viewers to gaze at one of them and then close their eyes to explore the image in their minds. Every visual afterimage cannot be exactly the same, and originally parallel and disjointed lines begin to overlap under the effect of visual delay. Affected by complex conditions such as optics, physics, neuroscience, and psychology, each viewer obtains their own unique visual results which vary from person to person and from time to time.
Thus, we are brought back to a pure visual experience, experiencing the flow of time and the transience of experience. From the era of printing to the era of digital imaging, and then to the era of short videos, visual media is increasingly concerned with the dynamic combination of moments. YANG Mian is conducting experiments with these “moments” where eternality and sturdiness are temporarily absent. Or, these moments may become eternal in the future. YANG Mian’s behavior has been interpreted by some observers as a deconstruction of visual mechanisms, but such judgment is not completely accurate. What YANG Mian truly cares about is the generation and production of the visible world, which is not deconstruction, but active rebirth. In the field of digital technology, the concept of rebirth corresponds to “restructuring”. It was through the restructuring of image production that YANG Mian regained the dignity of painting, an ancient form of art. As progress cannot be stopped and general artificial intelligence is challenging the art of painting, YANG Mian’s strategy is to redefine and interpret the painting of this generation, expanding its boundaries and updating its value. Artists can no longer regulate paintings with outdated industry standards in the era. Dignity, based on resonance with reality and relying on personalized expression with methodology, will eventually inspire other possibilities in painting.
Incorporate the Secular Mode of Image Production into a Spiritual Exploration
YANG Mian’s “dots” and “lines” are currently shown at the Soul Art Center. His solo exhibition Awakening traces his creation story in recent years and well connects his two iconic creation series. YANG Mian personally wrote the introduction for the exhibition. He, who has been engaged in column writing for a long time, narrates his thoughts and ideas with concise and simple language and minimizes the use of literary rhetoric in his personalized expression. He is wary of expressions of literary criticism, as literary expression emphasizes imagery and interest more than artistic methodology. Only by breaking away from specific interests can art creators gain freedom and find their true selves. In his introduction, YANG Mian does not explain his works with language, just as his art has never been compulsively and passively given to his viewers. He left some tips for viewing and experiencing, encouraging viewers to spontaneously participate in the process of creating images.
When watching works, different people gain different experiences. Artists only provide viewing mechanisms that can generate results. Viewers dominate rather than artists. YANG Mian, who has been engaged in art teaching for decades, now discards any preaching and communicates freely with his viewers. In the field of vision, everyone is equal, but it does not mean an equal visual experience. People differ in their perceptual abilities, so the world in their eyes is also vastly different. In this regard, YANG Mian created the concept of visual democracy, which goes beyond the visible surface and delves into the deep structure, technological origins and even cognitive foundations of images. The essence of the so-called conscious fusion is actually the artist’s power, but YANG Mian voluntarily gave it up. When it comes to this issue, he said, “With the development of technology, everyone can eventually participate in the creation of art. Now all artists need to lift the control over their power, which is opposite to the situation of art since modernism. Modernism emphasizes the will of artists to have absolute control over their works, and mature artists have a set of most personalized processes to control their works. But, in the future, the closed contemporary art system will inevitably open up, and art will be more open.”

“Modernism emphasizes the will of artists to have absolute control over their works,
And mature artists have a set of most personalized processes to control their works.
But, in the future, the closed contemporary art system will inevitably open up,
And art will be more open.”

The work before Awakening is Illuminating. In order to prepare for his solo exhibition Illuminating in Lhasa, YANG Mian spent several years studying the history of Tibetan art and drawing traditional murals through the CMYK contemporary system. Those images permeate divinity and imply the mysterious world that exists behind them. Before their appearance, there is no specific image of the holy. YANG Mian’s approach of drawing preserves the uncertainty of images, which precisely indicates the indescribable mystery. There are always things that humans cannot fully grasp, just like all the forms and colors in a painting which are constantly changing illusions. What contemporary people worship may be the hidden technological power beneath the surface, and those flickering screens are occupying people’s minds. In response to this, YANG Mian cleverly incorporates the secular mode of image production into a spiritual exploration.
Illuminating refers to enlightening people’s mind. Everyone have equal access to wisdom and can only acquire limited knowledge. So, the exhibition Awakening aims to invite all viewers to gain more awareness through artistic experiences. The protagonist of Awakening, YANG Mian, also known as “Mr. YANG” by his artistic peers, still maintains curiosity and a desire to explore the unknown world. As a Chengdu native, he does not have the tension as a result of being controlled by grand narratives. In the micro order composed of dots and lines, in the swinging gap between abstraction and concreteness, and at the critical point between sublimity and secularism, he seamlessly integrates the relaxed and open-minded attitude towards life with the ultimate rigor and rationality.