There is a ‘soft’ emancipation going on in works by artists from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora.
Of course this is not about the big investors’ art, but about ‘smaller’ art which tries to reshape its Chineseness in dialogue with the rest of the cultural world, with the strong conviction that neither tradition alone, nor radical rejection of it will bring something original.
Yuk Kan Yeung’s (1959) works are wonderful examples of that idea.
In the case of Yeung the use of porcelain and calligraphy may seem obvious for an artist with Chinese roots.
However, folding the very delicate porcelain into something characteristic without the idea of making a vase, a plate or a cup, and using calligraphy to let the porcelain breathe, so to speak, is quite a different story.
Presently Yeung shows porcelain objects and works on paper at Kadmium in a duo show with works by Antonius Nijssen (1955-2018).
His works may be described as geometric abstract.
One might even think about the so-called North Atlantic light, once observed by Willem de Kooning who had seen that light from both sides of the Ocean. However, Nijssen was quite a different painter.
Amongst others he has made some very interesting objects/paintings, with right angles in them.
In these works Nijssen makes the colours shine to compete with the shapes and shadows.
He seems to be less delicate with colours in these objects than in some of his ‘normal’ paintings, making them bright and playful but also reflective.
Being lucky to have had a private view of this – indeed – quiet exhibition, i hope Kadmium (closed at the moment because of Covid-19 restrictions) will be open to the public again soon.
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© Villa Next Door 2021
Contents of all photographs courtesy to Yuk Kan Yeung, the estate of Antonius Nijssen and Kadmium, Delft
Bertus Pieters
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