text by Sophie Mclntyre
In my work I want to explore the relationship between our changing external environment and our inner nature. -- Huang Chih-Yung
As an artist, Huang Chih-Yung is driven by the need to define the nexus between the physical and metaphysical, the modern and the primitive. Whilst in the twentieth century western world, the term "primitive" may invoke negative cultural assumptions, Huang's tendency towards primitivism is aimed at preserving the essential elements of humanity In a society overwhelmed by urbanisation and consumerism, the artist is searching for a sense of physical, psychological, and spiritual equilibrium.
In his paintings, Huang employs the traditional Chinese shui mo (literally, water and ink) brush painting techniques learnt at art school, from which he has developed his own highly personalised form of calligraphic mark making. These works are not traditional classic landscapes which meditate upon a lost world, but are x-rays of the "human condition". In his first series of paintings titled "Hsiao Maternity Room" (1992) and "Zoon" (1996), Huang visually dissects the human body reducing it to its most primal state. Under the artist's microscope, the body is metamorphosed into a skeletal, mutant-like form, part human, plant and animal.
In his most recent series of paintings titled, "Lovers Library" (1998-99), Huang collects, compares and contrasts "human specimens" which he discovers in different parts of the world. Like an anthropologist, the artist photographs each of his naked subjects, male and female, from the front, back and side, consciously recording their chosen gestures and the space which each couple occupies. He then proceeds to replicate the forms, using ink and brush, tracing the body's contours, bones and skin, objectifying the subject so that individual features and facial expressions disappear, and all that remains is an assemblage of forms unified by the same stroke (danyi). He then compiles these paintings into a "book", so that one may view them as a complete collection, as models of the human race. In these works, the artist comments on the drive towards globalisation, which he interprets as a form of homogenisation, in which we will inevitably appear the same.
"Cave" is Huang's largest site-specific installation to date. As a development of his previous work, "Tide Sky" (Chao Tien) created in 1997, Huang used more than one million oyster shells which were painstakingly threaded on 20,000 separate strings, forming a circular-shaped framework built with bamboo. Strung like precious jewels to form a shimmering white veil, these oyster shells were selected by the artist for their organic, reproductive properties, signifying the cyclical nature of life. According to the artist, when the oyster spawn is thrown into the water it will grow within the shell of another. Today Taiwan's oyster industry is in rapid decline, as the waterways are becoming increasingly polluted, and as natural resources diminish.
In an effort to raise environmental consciousness, Huang has created this "temporary biological theatre" where people as well as animals could congregate and find solace in this hollowed our retreat. Situated amongst soaring skyscrapers, in a rapidly expanding business district in central Taipei, Huang created this installation as a trenchant comment on the way in which humanity is destroying the environment and overturning "the natural order".
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