ChinaSquare is pleased to present CHIHUNG YANG : Recent Paintings, curated by Eric C. Shiner. Chihung Yang’s new abstract paintings will be on view April 3rd through 26th with an opening reception on Thursday, April 3rd, from 6 to 8 pm.

Chihung Yang’s deeply complex abstractions and sweeping brushwork transports the viewer into a universe ruled by the Chinese tradition of the ephemeral “floating clouds and flowing waters.” In standing before Yang’s work, it seems as if the universe has come to a standstill, that his clouds and rivulets of paint have been frozen in time. Yet, his balanced compositions hint at the grandeur of nature, or perhaps chaos unleashed and then reigned in. Mixing subtle monochromatic hues with bright bursts of paint, the fleeting appearance of color results in a feeling of life breaking through soil, or rays peeking through clouds. Organic structures emerge from the otherwise abstract nature of Yang’s painting in the form of buds, roots and veins. As abstract painting, Yang’s oeuvre stands its own in comparison with the great names of the tradition, whether Western or Chinese.

Chihung Yang, a graduate of the National Taiwan College of Art in Taipei, has been extensively exhibited throughout the world. Yang was awarded a year’s residency at The Clocktower in New York City by The Institute for Art and Urban Resources in 1985 and has since been living and working in New York City. Yang’s work is included in significant museum, corporate, and private art collections in Western Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Eric C. Shiner is an independent curator and art historian specializing in Japanese contemporary art. An assistant curator of the Yokohama Triennial in 2001, Shiner is an active writer and translator, a contributing editor for Art Asia Pacific magazine, and adjunct professor of Asian art history at Pace University in New York City.