A rather enigmatic character, the discrete conceptual artist Huang Yong Ping, famous for his large-scale works acting as disquieting metaphors for the fractures in our society, doesn’t do any of the glitzy art fairs, nor will you see snaps of him at red-carpet events in the press. He prefers to keep to himself, unleashing the demons of the world in colossal artworks like ‘Empires’ at the latest edition of Monumenta under the Grand Palais' glass nave in Paris.
'Empires' is Huang Yong Ping's latest art installation, Grand Palais, Paris. Image: Rooksana... [+]
An immersive month-long solo art show that has taken place almost every year since 2007, Monumenta has hosted artists Anselm Kiefer, Richard Serra, Christian Boltanski, Anish Kapoor, Daniel Buren, and the Kabakovs. This year, Huang Yong Ping is next to be invited to invest the imposing space.
Born in China, Huang Yong Ping came to France in 1989 for Magicians of the Earth his ground-breaking exhibition exposing globalisation in its early stages at the Centre Pompidou. However, his trip coincided with the unspeakable horrors of the Tiananmen Square massacre, leading him to stay put in the French capital, where he's lived ever since. An extremely well-read artist-philosopher, Huang Yong Ping is widely considered to be China's godfather of contemporary art with his founding of the avant-garde Xiamen Dada movement in 1986, while the repressive Chinese regime couldn’t have provided a more hostile landscape for freedom of expression.
Monumenta, alluding to the sheer size of the venue, is no easy challenge to take on. A 13,500 sqm space coiffed by the elegant domed Art Nouveau glass and iron roof upheld by balconies, can dwarf any artwork - but not Empires.
“It’s not just a conceptual success,” says Jean de Loisy, the show curator and director of the Palais de Tokyo contemporary art museum in Paris. “But it’s also a physical masterpiece, a real landscape of globalization!"
Behind the wall of brightly coloured containers, a world of more containers inscribed with words in various languages like ‘Capital’, Gesus’ and ‘Cai’ (meaning 'wealth' in Chinese) stand like islets of skyscrapers pointing up to the French flag, the ultimate symbol of power and authority in France, that's pinned to the rooftop. “This flag amused Huang very much,” chuckles Jean de Loisy. "He absolutely had to use it as part of the show."
The Chinese-born artist, Huang Yong Ping is next to be invited to invest the Grand Palais' glass... [+]
A 130-ton aluminium serpent skeleton coils around the containers. “The shape of the snake is like a valley and also like the shape of smoke,” says Huang Yong Ping, an unassuming bespectacled man with a cheerful sparkle in his eye.
Shaped like a valley, the snake recalls his home, the small harbour town of Xiamen with views of the valley in the distance, while the smoke alludes to its industrial transformation into an international shipping hub, which he found upon his return 11 years later.
And while Huang resists describing how far his work is characterised by a personal imprint, the serpent certainly links his personal history and seeing globalisation take hold of his home, with the transformation that has besieged the rest of the world, a world where power runs almost solely on trade and economics. “Containers are usually seen outside the city, but here they are right in the centre,” says the artist, echoing the link to invasion.
Huang Yong Ping's 'Empires', Monumenta 2016, Paris. Image: Rooksana Hossenally
The serpent winds its way around the lofty space like a monster roiling in a sea of containers that represent the global trade revolution. "But two revolutions are at play here," says Mr de Loisy. "You have the trade revolution of global markets, but the Grand Palais, the venue itself, is a symbol of the French industrial revolution,” explains the curator as we gaze up to the 115-foot ceilings of the Art Nouveau superstructure.
“Empires was a challenge from beginning to end and more than once, we wondered whether or not we’d be able to get it off the ground,” says gallery-owner Kamel Mennour, who represents the artist. “It’s the hardest show I’ve ever done – but it’s also the biggest. And I think it's one of the most successful Monumentas to date as Huang had a very clear idea of how he was going to occupy the enormous space - and it just couldn't have worked better.”
The idea for the show actually came to Huang Yong Ping in his dreams more than 10 years ago, explains Mr de Loisy. And in his dream, the installation was precisely at the Grand Palais, which was even before Monumenta began. “Huang Yong Ping knew what he wanted from the start and made no concessions – he’s very strong-willed!” laughs the curator. And as the artist confirms, “For this work, the idea was very clear to me from the beginning. It was my first idea and it was the best one – so there were no choices to make.”
In fact, very little is ever left to chance in Huang Yong Ping's artworks - especially not location. And the Grand Palais' location is primordial.“You have to consider the space, beyond the space,” says the artist. It's set on an axis of power between the Elysée Palace, the official residence of the French President, and Invalides, the resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte, a global icon of power and authority who was a prominent French military leader and a long-standing emperor of the French after the Revolution.
Huang Yong Ping shows a small group of press his sketch of the location of the Grand Palais. Image:... [+]
Among the containers and the rise and fall of the gleaming silver serpent that reflects the ascencion and descencion of empires, an obscure oversized replica of Napoleon’s infamous Bicorne hat balances precariously on an arch of triumph. Worn by the military leader at the Battle of Eylau, one of the bloodiest battles often cited as an example of France’s aptitude in war, it’s a fitting centrepiece reflecting geo-political strategy, while the containers represent geo-political economy. “The hat is made from bitumen, and bitumen is made from petrol, which is still one of the reasons for war around the world,” says Mr de Loisy highlighting yet another link woven into the installation.
Angled toward the Ecole Militaire, like a compass of power, “Napoleon’s hat is empty but everyone wants to wear it,” says Huang Yong Ping, evoking the world's insatiable hunger for power. “But it’s just about balancing on the arch, power is fragile."
And when asked to define the meaning behind his work, Huang Yong Ping shows reluctance because for him “It’s not up to the artist to judge,” he says. “Globalization, this hunger for power, is part of the human condition and it’s also part of nature, like any natural disaster.”
Monumenta 2016: Huang Yong Ping, Empires at the Grand Palais, Paris, will run until June 18.
