Monsters Are Real – How Artist Huang Yong Ping Created Art Out of Humanity's Inner Demons
Art on the surface is an amalgamation of colours, strokes, illustrations, or structures.
But what truly makes art, art? Something aesthetically appealing? Something that holds a lot of value? Something that gains worldwide attention? There are arguments for all of the above, but what helps transcend a piece of art to become timeless is genuine reason; an articulation that resonates and is felt with the audience, and the late Chinese-French artist Huang Yong Ping is a master of this in every way, shape, or monstrous form he projects it in.
You may be familiar with Ping’s work from when a gigantic sea serpent appeared on the shores of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, Loire-Atlantique, France in 2015. The 130m long aluminum vertebrae saw worldwide attention, but Ping’s work is both expansive and varied and the Sea Serpent is not the only thing that caught the attention of millions. Being renowned for his thought-provoking installations that challenge human nature, often implementing nuances of holding the political world accountable for humanity’s downfalls.
Born in 1954 and sadly passing in 2019, Ping during his career has been celebrated as a prolific artist, often being listed as one of the greats when it comes to avant-garde art. Having infused much philosophy into his work, both European and non-European, his art often imitates notions of Darwinism struggles in society, where we are all fighting each other to remain - survival of the fittest.
This was never more prominent in his extremely controversial exhibition “The Theater of the World”, in which living insects, amphibians, and reptiles were put together with the expectation that they would kill one another during the length of the exhibition— a metaphorical depiction of modern society and human’s instinctive fight for dominance.
Other notable works include the gigantic octopus hanging from the ceiling, a barrage of caged, dismembered animals, huge cockroaches scuttling across a kitchen, and the time he put 2 art history books, one English and one Chinese, in a washing machine together and presented them.
