Lu Yang is an artist who mixes styles and techniques to sublimate her art, and convey strong messages. John Dodelande, a fan of Chinese contemporary art, highlights this committed artist, who does not hesitate to propose innovative, committed and shouting works.

Lu Yang, an artist with works that cry out for truth

If Lu Yang, a native of Shanghai, has a background that seems academic, his works do not hesitate to break taboos and disturb in order to convey strong messages. Societal, religious, sexual themes… The artist confronts the world with the problems of the Chinese population and culture, using certain codes such as manga or techno music.

At first glance, his works seem light by these often screaming colors. However, they lead us to question ourselves, to push certain reflections, sometimes to the point of disturbing.

The work ” Electromagnetic Brainology ” by Lu Yang

With “Electromagnetic Brainology”, Lu Yang once again surprised his audience with a live 3D performance during the exhibition #You #Me #OurSelfies at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre in January 2018.

This installation uses the symbols of Buddhism, with the four major elements of fire, earth, water and air. Lu Yang reinvents them in the form of half-gods, half-superheroes, but above all, each representing a central element of the human nervous system. This particularity is not without reminding his previous work, “Delusional Mandala”. We find the lively universe of Lu Yang, with frenetic music, garish colors, and a use of technology, with a large screen display. The artist has represented his face on a gigantic balloon sculpture, unfolding in the whole space.

Lu Yang, born in 1984 in Shanghai, is a colorful artist who uses different currents to convey strong messages. John Dodelande, a young French entrepreneur but above all a collector in love with Chinese contemporary art, presents this artist who goes beyond taboos of any kind.

Lu Yang breaks taboos with technology

Lu Yang’s works shed light on the contemporary issues of Chinese society. She tackles sometimes taboo themes, and for that, she does not hesitate to use technology: 3D animation films, video game installations, holograms, neon lights, virtual reality, software manipulation… However, the artist does not like to be categorized: “I am not a new media artist, nor a post-internet artist”.

Lu Yang also calls upon artists from various horizons for collaborations that bring another dimension to the messages she wishes to convey. Performers, designers, composers, musicians… The manga universe also characterizes her art.

” Delusional Mandala ” by Lu Yang

With ” Delusional Mandala “, Lu Yang offers us an artistic work rich in colors, in contrasts, which leads us to wonder about a complex issue: what about technological evolutions on our consciousness? This video, which can be disturbing, points out strong themes such as science, religion, mortality.

Lu Yang represented herself, in an asexual way, in this video, where she undergoes neuroscientific experiments. The spectator can see the reactions of her body, all this in a pop/manga spirit under a background of techno music, light at first sight. However, the message is there, and one becomes aware of it, especially at the end of the video where the character’s hearse is speeding away with Lu Yang’s virtual face.

Facebook artist Lu Yang : https://fr-fr.facebook.com/luyangasia/

“Wrathful King Kong Core” is an HD video made in 2011 by Lu Yang, lasting 14 minutes and 48 seconds, in which the artist chose to use contemporary scientific theory and the most advanced technology to analyze the most powerful and vindictive God of Tibetan Buddhism: Vajrabhalrara, mixing somehow cosmology, an entertaining Buddhist religion with western science.

The musical background, audible with difficulty, is that of the famous electro-acoustic artist and composer Yao Dajuin, who was, as we learn from John Dodelande, Lu Yun’s teacher. Much of the background music closely resembles the songs of the Tibetan lamas and sounds like a continuous and uninterrupted universal “ohm”. Yao Dajuin used digital technology to enhance and amplify the sound.

Existential questions…

The artist says of his work: “This project is quite old. It always takes me a long time to make my creations, my ability to create cannot follow my ideas… At the beginning, I had imagined to create this work around 2008, but it took me 3 years to realize it” she says.

“In 2008, I was very obsessed with the neurological sciences, and I read a lot of them, when I started reading a section about the amygdala, I immediately had a vision of the dissected amygdala of the God of Wrath. …] Emotions are psychological and physiological reactions to external stimuli. Anger is definitely a negative emotion. What interests me is to understand what reflex actions emerge from the physiological structure of the human body. Although the idea that human bodies are mere “reflex bodies” is rather extreme, it is legitimate to ask why “God” produced such mechanistic creatures. If the human race has committed original sin, what are the sources of greed, anger, hatred, mental illness? “she added.