Chihung Yang
American (b. 1947)
Untitled (Black and Brown Composition) (1986)
Mixed media (acrylic, pastel) on paper
Hand signed lower right
Sheet 38 x 50 inches, frame dimensions: 45 x 57 x 2 inches, wood frame with glazing
Provenance:= From a Corporate Art Collection
Yang Chihung (Chinese: 楊識宏; pinyin: Yang Chihung; born 1947) Taiwanese-American artist.
Yang Chi-hung was born on 25 October 1947, in Chungli, Taiwan. He developed an interest in art in early childhood, and found inspirations to pursue an artist career after reading Lust for Life – The Life of Vincent van Gogh, translated by poet Yu Kuang-chung, in junior high school. Between 1965 and 1968, he attended the National Taiwan College of Art, developing a sound foundation in oil painting under the tutelage of famous Taiwanese artists of the Japanese Colonial period, such as Liao Chi-chun, Li Mei-shu and Yang San-lang. Meanwhile, he actively attended events organized by the modern art groups of Taiwan, namely the Fifth Moon Group and Ton Fan Group, only to find himself both intimidated and dissatisfied with the then relatively conservative art environment in Taiwan. In 1979, he emigrated to the United States of America with his wife, Jane, and their son, Daniel. His pioneering works soon landed him the “Outstanding Asian-American Artist” award. The concept and style of abstract expressionism as represented by the works of Jackson Pollock in the 1950s had great impact on Yang’s work. With the sense of nihilism that gave rise to abstract expressionism in the post-war period, artists no longer clamored to depict the external environment, but rather chose to focus on their own inner experience. Yang Chihung embraced this spirit about the early 1990s when his style turned abstract. In 1984–85 and again in 1985–86, he was twice awarded a year's residency at The Clocktower Studio in New York City by MoMA P.S.1.
In 2013, Yang, along with Xu Bing, Zhang Huan, and Li Chen, were the four artists featured in the Discovery Channel Asia documentary series, Chineseness, a multi-series production that focused on postwar Chinese contemporary artists.
He is of the generation of artists such as Chen Tingshi, Liang Yifeng, Yang Yuyu, Pang Jiun, Yinhui Chen, Jui-Ling Hung, De-Jinn Shiy, Yong-ik Cho, Wan Chuan Chang, Kuosung Liu, Sanlang Yang, Chetsai Shen, Fu-sheng Ku, Chunxiang Zhao, Ming Ju, Ming-Che Huang, Jiutong Liu, In-Ting Ran, George Chann, Yi Hong, Tzu-Chi Yeh, Max Liu, Yi-Hsiung Chang, Che Chuang
Awards and recognition
1989, Outstanding Asian American Artist Award, by Governor of New York
1984–1986, MoMA P.S.1 National Studio Program, Residency at Clocktower Studio, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1969 Contemporary Young Artists Exhibition, U. S. I. S. Lincoln Center, Taipei, Taiwan
1974 Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition, Ueno Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1977 10 Chinese Leading Artists, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1978 Contemporary Chinese Art from Taiwan, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
1978 International Exhibition of Prints, National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, South Korea
1979 6th British International Print Biennial, Bradford Art Galleries and Museum, England
1980 4th Miami International Print Biennial, Metropolitan Museum Coral Gables, Florida
1982 Summer Invitational, Susan Caldwell Inc, New York City
1982 Four Artists, SoHo Center for Visual Artists, New York City
1983 New Acquisitions and Trustee's Choice, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art,
1983 Cleveland (UK) 6th International Drawing Biennale, Middlesbrough Art Gallery, England
1983 Dreams Demons Madness, Alternative Museum, New York City
1984 Rambunctious, Siegel Contemporary Art, New York City
1984 Invitational Painting Exhibition, Part II: Eight Imagist Painters, Siegel Contemporary Art, NYC
1984 Salvo, Ruth Siegel Ltd, New York
1984 Modern Art, Ted Greenwald Gallery, New York City
1985 Exotica, Paintings and Works on Paper, Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York City
1985 The Art of the 1970s and 1980s, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1985
Large Figurative Drawings...