LIJIANG STUDIO
RESIDENCY ARTIST INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEW
Li Li Sha of Lijiang Studio interviewed residence artist Yeni Mao about his work and Lijiang
Studio itself. The interview was conducted April 16th, 2007 at the Lashihai artist residence in
Hainan, Yunnan.
LS: Please introduce your residency project.
YM: I proposed a project earlier, when I first applied, that¡¯s now different. I was using a lot
of plans from Chinese architecture in my work, and those are very hard to come by in the States. I was going to come here to measure and draw up architectural plans and use them in my work. My work is about the relation of the body to architecture, the body to the surrounding environment. That¡¯s what the project was when I applied, now it¡¯s a year later that I came so now I¡¯m working on something different- its changed quite a bit. It¡¯s difficult to come up with a project for someplace as specific as Lashihai site unseen. What I¡¯m working on now follows the idea of how architecture, technology, and engines relate to natural systems. What I¡¯ve been affected by, now that I am actually in China, is the process of destruction and regeneration. This you see all around you, things are being torn down and built back up, torn down and built back up, and that seems to be really part of China¡¯s path. It¡¯s the culture here- traditionally, all this civilization being torn down and rebuilt. The
development in China is at this incredible pace; I¡¯m impressed by that. This process of destruction and regeneration is also a biological process, how your body heals itself and
fixes itself- it can go thru a trauma and still recover and become something new. These are the concepts of transformation and metamorphosis in my work that I¡¯m still using- influenced by being in China, and this process here of tearing down and building back up. You don¡¯t really have that as much in the States. There, its mostly about building, there¡¯s not as much destruction as there is here. So that¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking about. I¡¯m doing a series of paintings; Lijiang studio also is giving me the opportunity to do an installation or two. Those are my projects.
LS: These projects you are working on now, they happened here or before you came?
YM: My work has strains or themes throughout; coming here it becomes more specific
because you can be influenced by where you are. I can only propose in very general terms what I¡¯m going do until I¡¯ve actually experienced being here, experiencing the environment.
LS: Why did you give up your old project? Did your creative situation is change, or you just
changed your mind?
YM: It changed because an idea of a place is always different than the reality. Now that I¡¯m
here, I don¡¯t want to do the plans. I don¡¯t feel they are relevant; I was overtaken by this idea of
destruction and regeneration. I guess some part of it is changing my mind, but mostly I don¡¯t think that the images, doing that project, they wouldn¡¯t be as important in my work. The plans are too specific to the area. I didn¡¯t want to do regional portraits, I want my art to have a larger scope, I wanted to address larger natural systems.
This is a Naxi house- maybe I was na?ve in thinking that there would be an archetypal
Chinese building type that I could use, and this architecture is very specific to the region. I didn¡¯t want my paintings to be specific to the region. After coming here, I see that there are a lot of books and studies of the architecture in the area. What I wanted to do is already done- I am an artist not an architect, so I¡¯ll leave that research to the experts. What I can bring to it is something different. There are many books about the vernacular dwellings, so the need was not there.
LS: What is the connection in your work to the local culture?
YM: The connection that is has is that Lashihai and Lijiang are microcosm, an example, of
what¡¯s happening in China at large. It¡¯s a small system that describes the large system of China- the development, the tourism, the economic boom. What a lot of the large system is about is this tearing down and building up.
Also, I did not want to be an art tourist of Naxi people. That¡¯s another reason I didn¡¯t do the
plans, I¡¯m not Joseph Rock. There are many artists that go to a place, do work about another
culture, that have no connection to that culture. I don¡¯t really have a connection to the Naxi
people, so I¡¯m not going to do a whole work about the plight of the Naxi. It would be like me
going to Africa and doing a work about the Masai. I don¡¯t have the right to speak for them, or
have the right to portray them- they put forth to the world what they want to and I trust them, that it¡¯s their decision how to describe their culture. And they have a very rich culture; I do not have to add my version of contemporary art to it. I am very suspicious of art that goes into other cultures and appropriates it, changes it into something else, gives it a contemporary twist to show theworld. It¡¯s really problematic, it¡¯s really the basis of colonialism, the oppression of minorities is based on this appropriation, so I don¡¯t want to be part of that. Being Asian in America is very different than being Asian in China, because you are among all these other color groups. America is obsessed by race, we think about that a lot, and that has a lot of influence in my work. Coming here has taken that out of the equation for me, so I am free to explore all this other stuff that doesn¡¯t have to do with my ethnicity.
LS: What do you think Lijiang Studio¡¯s role is, it¡¯s reason for being here?
YM: I think there are many reasons. Isn¡¯t the prime mission to bring contemporary art to
people that don¡¯t usually have the opportunity to see it? Besides the natural beauty, another reason that Lijiang Studio is an inspirational place is it is a microcosm of the greater China. Also, as is the benefit of any residency, you get to meet people. You get to work with artists from all over the world, you get to see a lot of different aspects of what people think art is, I think that¡¯s really eye- opening. The point of Lijiang Studio is to engage the community. It gives to the community another view of themselves. Maybe this whole thing has to do with the Communist idea of going back to the land during the Cultural Revolution, to equalize people, I don¡¯t know. What do you think Lijiang Studio is doing here?
LS: Lijiang Studio is an idea, the residency here is only a part of it, Lijiang Studio has many
parts, the main part is the creative part, the exhibitions. But how we communicate with the
community is the main point. We are not here to teach them something, we just want to learn
something from them, perhaps to finds a new way, maybe work together. Lijiang Studio provides an opportunity to do this.
YM: Yes, I do not think we are here to educate the local community; we are here to
collaborate and interact. See what they give us as well as what we give them. It¡¯s an exchange, with people that you don¡¯t usually have the opportunity to exchange with. If you have a residency in the city...those are the people that you engage with all the time.
LS: This rural surrounding in very different than your environment in New York. How do
you think this situation affects and influences your work?
YM: How it¡¯s different to work here than in New Y,ork is the thing that most residencies
give, time to develop your work. Your work becomes less fragmented, you are able to have one complete thought process, you have space and time to think something through thoroughly, and really work. The city can be very distracting, you are busy trying to live, make money, eat; so that¡¯s a very valuable thing. As far as Lashihai specifically, one of the reasons I wanted to come to Yunnan is the ethnic mix of Yunnan. Being an Asian American or Canadian, I wanted to come here and see what¡¯s going on, this concept of the ¡°motherland¡±. African-Americans have this same experience when they go to Africa, its this idea that your an African-American, and your going to go to your motherland, and everything's going to be cool and great. But in context you are an American before you are African or Asian. I wanted to look at that aspect of my work. The school that I come out of is this school that was really strong in the early 90¡¯s, about identity politics. Especially in America, the work was and still is about national racial and sexual identity. I wanted to exorcise that from my work, because it¡¯s no longer relevant in the face of globalism. I wanted to immerse myself in the culture, be with a lot of other Asians that are not the same. Basically what happens if you¡¯re an immigrant in another country they lump you together by the color of your skin, I¡¯m lumped with all the other Asians. In America nobody really cares what the difference between Naxi and Han, and in some cases Japanese and Chinese. I wanted to blow that out of the water for myself, I wanted to come and not think about it anymore by looking at it in the face.
Originally, when I started to talk to Lijiang Studio, I requested an urban location because that¡¯s what I¡¯m used to, and I deal with a lot of architecture in my work. But I¡¯m glad I¡¯m out
here- its more peaceful. And there¡¯s more nature, which my work also deals with. It¡¯s expanded me further. An aspect of my work is a concept that Kiki Smith and Barnett Newman also deal with, in very different ways. It¡¯s this idea that there¡¯s this line from the smallest thing inside your body to the largest thing in the cosmos, the microcosm to the macrocosm. Here, outside the city, you are more connected to this natural aspect, to the universe as a whole. In a city you are more contained. Very simple romantic things like you see the sky, see the horizon line, see things growing. There are these basic ways- you grow, you kill, you eat, these basic ways of living that you don¡¯t get in the city. This speaks to one aspect in my work that I don¡¯t get enough of in city life.
LS: You say a lot of good things about being in the countryside. Are there any disadvantages?
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YM: No, not really. Some practical things are difficult, but nothing major. It¡¯s difficult to find
materials, it¡¯d be nice if there was a good art supply store...but it¡¯s not really an issue, because you adapt your work to where you are. I want to use local materials; I think that when you use local materials it influences your work.
There are both a positive and negative aspects. We¡¯re out here in this sort of boat, living in
close quarters with perfect strangers, for three or four months or whatever, and that can be difficult to adapt to, maybe more difficult the older you get. It¡¯s not a struggle, but something to consider. It¡¯s a benefit to be here with everyone else, but it can be difficult.
LS: Do you mean cultural differences?
YM: No, I mean personal differences- all these creative minds together. There¡¯s two sides of
the sword- artwork is very personal, and everyone approaches their practice in a different way. You have to try to understand, and put your best foot forward. But its nothing really, no major problems...nice if we could get some croissants...the fleas totally suck. That¡¯s a problem. It¡¯d be nice to be able to get into town easier at night, but we¡¯re here to work, and I¡¯m here, everyday, working, when I¡¯m not fighting fleas.
LS: Lijiang Studio is making a ¡°Cultural Map¡±, finding local craftsmen, a listing for the artists to
make collaborations easier. The studio would put a local artist and a foreign artist together. What do you think?
YM: I think that¡¯d be great, be excellent! It would help bring people out of their shell a bit. All of our projects are just a continuation of our work before coming, just what we¡¯ve been doing. Three months is a very short time to think about and produce a project. It¡¯s going to be difficult to get artists to be specific about what they are going to do before they come. I think in my case, if you basically assigned me to a craftsman, then we could collaborate on something together. Nothing of that sort was really brought up, or it¡¯s been brought up in a general way, like saying it¡¯d be great for me to collaborate with someone in the community. But I live in New York, and Three months is not a long time to get a project going and completed without facilitation. Most of that time is getting to know the area. The first month is just getting to know what¡¯s available. It would be great for Lijiang Studio to have a roster of craftsman that the artists could work with, choose or be assigned, but that initial research needs to be done for the artist, because we are not from here, and we don¡¯t know what¡¯s available. It¡¯s a constant struggle everyday to adapt our work to material availability. It would be an exciting proposition to be invited by the Lijiang Studio to work, for example, with a local woodcarver- I¡¯m very interested in the these carved doors, but did not really think of that until recently, and I don¡¯t know any woodcarvers, they do not come around. I don¡¯t want to sound like I¡¯m not stepping up to the plate, but artists need help with that. Basically people are scared of other people, so I think that¡¯s its Lijiang Studio¡¯s job to break the ice, to make people more comfortable, to help with communication.
LS: What is your working process and techniques now?
YM: I used to work in oils, and switched to acrylics right before I came here. For ease of
travel, but also its helping me in my work by enabling me to layer quicker. The work that I do is about putting something down and reacting to it. So I can do a lot of layers quickly, and acrylic covers better than oil. I am struggling against the material a little bit, when acrylic dries its ugly and looks like plastic, so I am using a lot of layering and mediums and glazes to make it more luminous. It also enables me to do these controlled spills easily, which puts a lot of movement in the paintings. These hybrid characters have the tendency to become very static. The work I was doing before were these hybrid cyborgs, part animal, plant, machine, as a metaphor for the incorporation of other cultures. The project I¡¯m doing now has to do with destruction and regeneration, so I¡¯m looking at these piles of building materials that are everywhere, of bricks, cement blocks, logs. I¡®m looking at those because they are in the process of transition, they were once something and they will be something. I¡¯m using some acupressure point maps, the white dots and lines. These are maps of the body in a very Chinese medicinal way, used as overlays. They remind me of circuit boards or transit maps. What attracts me to them is that they are sourced from the body but they can be interpreted as many ways, as man-made things. Those are the two major aspects in this new series.
Another is these anatomical parts, they are points to touch down, a reality. They represent one person or character, and give the abstractions a personality. The paintings themselves become iconic portraits, superheroes, villains, victims, what not. The process of destruction and regeneration is a psychological and biological process, but it¡¯s also a process in this very large national and international sense.
LS: The layers remind me of mechanical printing, the layer after layer, like a machine made
print with separated colors.
YM: Process is very important, putting down something and reacting to it. Like I¡¯m this
human painting machine! A machine that¡¯s able to make a decision in between layers. The layers also have to do with my background in design. I am very interested in representing a three- dimensional object not with a traditional rendering, but with many views, plan, elevation, section, etc. I am very influenced by the construction packets from when I was working in architecture- a space is described by several layers of drawings. If you looked at one layer, you would not necessarily see anything, just a bunch of wires or outlets or toilet placements. These layers really separate out the guts and anatomy of a space or building. So I¡¯m really trying to describe these characters in the same way, these paintings areconstruction packets for these characters.
LS: What do you think of the Haidong exhibition space?
YM: It¡¯s a very difficult place to show. I understand the concept of not catering to the ¡°white
box¡± gallery space, but I think that sometimes a white gallery space can be good because you can actually see the work, morals aside. It¡¯s a very difficult place to show; automatically it influences the work shown. Its difficult to isolate your work from the architecture, it becomes an exhibition of the building and your work, its not just a show about your work. It¡¯s nice, it¡¯s a very cool building, a lot of interesting experiments happened there- its like somebody got cut loose with the welder. But I am looking forward to my show there!
LS: How many exhibitions have you seen there and what did you think of them?
YM: I saw one, Mariana and Joybrata¡¯s show. I like both their work very much. Joybrata¡¯s
work was much more accessible to people, because of its documentary style. I don¡¯t know if
people really understood what was going on with Mariana¡¯s work. The exhibition was put together in a hurry, Adrian the curator was not around until the very last minute, and therefore it wasn¡¯t really well promoted. They pulled it together, but it didn¡¯t seem like the smoothest process. There wasn¡¯t as much engagement with the people as I expected, maybe because there were not that many people there. We talk a lot about engaging the community and exposing people to new work, but there was not much said about the work. They did a presentation and there were a couple comments and questions.
It was interesting to see how Mariana¡¯s work might offend or not offend, how people would
digest it with the cultural difference. For example, the girl made out of liang fen that she was
going to cut up and cook; there was this big debate whether it was appropriate, how people could interpret it the wrong way. Maybe it¡¯s the Chinese way, because China is coming out of an oppressive period, or maybe it¡¯s just the minefield of cross-cultural communication, but there is caution about criticizing. Mariana¡¯s work was about, among other things, women empowerment. She was addressing the oppression of women in this society, but that wasn¡¯t really discussed. But, on the other hand, its not our job to come here and criticize the way the local people live, they are perfectly capable of making their own decisions. They live the way they live, and we live the way we live. It¡¯s very easy for foreigners to come here and have this romanticized idea about the Naxi people and how they live, want to ¡°save¡± the people, which is very insulting and subversive. The assumption is that life in the West is good, and life in the East is bad, ¡°We know better¡±
LS: You are working very hard, and I know that artists go through many ups and downs in
the creative process. How do you feel about your work at this point?
YM: I want to take advantage of my time here, I want to create a body of work, I have a goal.
We¡¯ve moved the date for the final exhibition up almost an entire month. Coming up with an
entire body of work in two months is a lot, so I want to work and get to it. I struggle everyday, I
have up-days and down-days. I am really trying to stick to my process and not rush things, but I do want to work things out for the date happens. I appreciate my time here- it cost me a lot of effort and money to come here and I¡¯m not going to waste that.
LS: What's your favorite local food?
YM: The Naxi cucumber salad, vinegar soy sauce hot sauce!
LS: Delicious!! |