Before settling permanently in France, Huang Yong Ping was
already focussing ceaselessly and with a critical eye on the
ambiguity of the social function of culture, first in China and
later, following the international progress of his work. Seizing
on the profound forms and beliefs of East and West, he shows
their potential for fascination and violence. Since his days as a
radical neo-Dadaist provocateur in China in the early-80s, he has
undertaken, with the same determination, a powerful,
politically-charged questioning of our certainties.
He has seized, this time, on the great tales that have been the
foundation of Western civilisation, giving them back their
symbolic effectiveness. The age-old notoriety of the myths he
revisits is down to their structure, onto which mankind is able
to project answers to the great enigmas of destiny. But,
whether it is Noah’s story, the source for Arche 2009, or the
allegory of the cavern according to Plato’s Republic, which
inspired the work exhibited in September at galerie Kamel
Mennour, these myths are under no circumstances mere
pretexts for producing a sculpture. It is the very forms of the
texts themselves that are explored and manipulated, with an
obstinacy that recalls the famous installations created on the
occasion of the exhibition “Magiciens de la terre” [Magicians of
the Earth] in 1989, or in 1992 for the Carnegie International in
Pittsburgh. Here, books were transformed, ground down into a
shapeless paste, then returned to the library shelves, in
accordance with the dual nature of culture: dead matter or
contaminating essence of life.
The magisterial installation conceived by the artist for the
chapel of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris
was inspired by the fire at the famous Parisian shop Deyrolle,
which specialised in the sale of objects related to natural
history. Struck by the effect of calcination on the appearance
of the animals, the artist saw in this dreadful accident the
representation of the true work of death. The disaster drove
him to create this immense sculpture, a commentary on the
history of Noah’s Ark, as described in Genesis – in other words
on the question of evil, divine retribution and redemption at
the heart of a cosmic drama: the flood.
Arranged between copies and casts of some of the most
famous works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the
great vessel is there, surrounded by the summits of Western
memory. Faithful to the biblical story, it carries on its three
decks the fauna destined to repopulate the earth.
On closer inspection, the spectator will discover that some of
the stuffed animals are disfigured, as if victims of a terrible
tragedy. Equally, the mast – partially burnt – suggests that this
microcosm has endured something terrible. Thus the artist
returns to one of his fundamental obsessions, the selfdestruction
of societies, which has provided the subject for a
number of his works, such as Theatre of the world or Yellow
peril, where insects were confined in a cage, the shape of
which evoked traditional prison layouts. Incapable of living
together, they ended up eating each other.
Here, the work consists of a paper boat. What more literal
way is there of suggesting that it refers to a book, but also
that it belongs, like a fable, to the world of childhood. The
geometry of the folds by which the ship is built is the
expression of reason, as opposed to the animal instincts from
which we are made. HYP’s ark transports life, but also the
fundamental violence of all social organisations.
Through this pessimistic message, the artist turns the idea of
the story on which it is based on its head. He breaks the
alliance between God and man. No celestial punishment has
been imposed on the ark – the barbarism laid bare by the
artist has originated purely in the violence inherent in
communal life.
As the title Arche 2009 suggests, the tragic rumblings of the
present accompany this monument, dedicated as it is to our
weaknesses. One can see here the echo, for example, of
today’s widespread ecological destruction, which was once
symbolised by the flood, or the suffering of the Boat People,
or the endless conflicts that demonstrate our inability to live
with one another...
Here, then, as with Plato’s allegory of the cavern, which
illustrates the impossibility of mankind having access to
knowledge of reality, the artist inverts the function of myths
by observing what they say about us, rather than what they
tell us about our gods. Thus, in place of the theological aspects
of these founding tales, he substitutes an anthropology, a
reflection on mankind. |
