Shen Yuan was born in Xianyou City of Fujian Province. She graduated from Zhejiang Academy of Art (now China Academy of Art) in 1982, her works were exhibited in National Art Museum of China’s “Contemporary Chinese Art” (known as Exhibition 89) Exhibition and had moved to Paris the following year. “Water Bed”, was her most acclaimed work, it was and still true today a criticism and analysis of the state of being as well as the political climate of the age. After leaving China, a displacement in the cultural context becomes her new starting point of artistic creation which stemmed from the perplexities of her cultural identity, memories and transition in language, it had lead to her Paris works in the 90’s become known by the international art circles. Shen Yuan is an accomplished Chinese female artist, her works are fronted by the simple scenes of everyday life. Though her metaphors, variations and broad brushwork, which speaks lightly and elegantly, information of depth and complexity are revealed.
In what we face as long-forgotten memories, what we say seem to be a found-again “image of time”, it passes through our bodily passages and presents itself in a broad view of reading---------personal experiences are like the traces of writing, it makes the boundary of man and world vague, thus making existence seem more perceivable. Personally speaking, language is not thought, it is not wisdom, nor is it the truth, but are rather mere “improvised phrases” Roland Barthes. From another aspect, language is an bearer of history and imagination, through language, we position ourselves in the world. Shen Yuan says: the duty of artists is to “attach information to objects”. If her wish is to give a lifeless object an ability to speak, then, she means to enable it to communicate through existing and multi-polar languages, spoken or written. However, the thought shows the shortcomings of language, it is limited and is exclusive, it maybe that only something visual can penetrate meanings into images. “My interest had always been the transitioning of images, it had also been the starting point of my works…”
“Spices” is the curatorial theme Shen Yuan raised for this up-coming exhibition in Tang Contemporary Bangkok. The political significance of the word “Spices” is the 600 year old killing and warring history in its name. Today, it had lost its former prestige; no interested parties would fight or explore new sea-routes for its trade. As we, the health-concerned and scientific-minded modernists can find spices for our dining tables at almost any super-market.
The plantation and distribution of spices however remains astonishing to this day. Who would have thought peppers were first found in Mexico and is now used in Indian curry? Canada is the world’s largest producer of mustard but the earliest recorded history of it was found in China, widely used in the palace cuisines of Zhou Dynasty. Its great transitions depict the vastness of historical conflicts. All “Spices” are significant and parallel to our history of culture in the way that the changing aromas of the spices are consistent to the unique transitions of our cultures.
To be more precise, Shen Yuan’s Bangkok curatorial project is about “flowers”, where colors and scent are its front. Our imagination of Thailand is one of year-long flowering tropical country. Thailand uses different colors to signify different days; red is used to signify Sundays which signifies the sun, energy and power. Are these to be considered as metaphors? To Shen Yuan, it is a point of entry for thought. As an artist, points of thought will undoubtedly be deepened in both the historical and realistic realms.
Since ancient times, colors were used as the clearest way to indicate opposing sides, flags with more than 5 colors indicate a wide spectrum of social classes. As explained in the Thai Constitution, the color red on the Thai flag indicates the people, white indicates religion, blue in the center indicates the Royal Family, though the color yellow is no-where to be found. In the Bangkok conflict, Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts were supposedly the colors of the flag.
As the world witnessed the 69-Day long conflict between “Red and Yellow” which ended in blood-shed and the blazing of Thai World Trade Center, it is almost certain that this will not see the end of their problems at large. Seen in other parts of the world, where problems such as wealth gap and deteriorating metropolis, will the “Red and Yellow” conflict take to the center-stage of Thai politics as well? Marking the beginning of the summer, are these colors a part of Shen Yuan’s impression and consideration of Thailand?
Shen Yuan’s earlier work “Wasted Words” was exhibited in 1994 for her Solo Show in Paris. It was a piece about China. In the Chinese language, “tongue” means both a body organ as well as a language mechanism, thus it has both bodily as well as spiritual significance. In the Chinese proverb, Wasted Words” which means the conversation leads no-where. The piece reveals her feelings of being physically and spiritually displaced, as well as the awakenings of language aggression which were lodged deeply in her memories. In the exhibition space, red tongues made of ice were impaled onto a few huge columns, these “ice tongues” melt and turns into water “drooling” into metallic basins as time progresses, revealing sharp blades which were frozen into the tongues. Shen Yuan says:“ tongues means the act of speaking, melting tongues signifies the un-restrained used of language, thus, it means the loss of language.” When tongues are given a comprehensive ability to act, its forces can become more powerful than that of the fist.
“Wasted Words” is an observation and analysis of the loss of her native language or tongue in a new and non-native environment. As for Shen Yuan’s interpretation of the nature of ice, she says that it is rigid as well as soft, delicate, sensitive like that of a woman’s heart, meanwhile, language is delicate and to be used with sensitivity, it enables interaction, in turn, because it is delicate and sensitive, any misinterpretations are greatly amplified.
In the opening exhibition of “Le Degré Zéro de l’espace” in Paris 2008, Shen Yuan placed herself behind 2 walls made of ice: On one side of the partition, came chanting in her native tongue, they were words which had become ever-estranging, flickering in its definition. On the other side, she would sit alone in the room made of ice on a blanket speaking her thoughts in her local and new tongue, French, for example, “art had filled the gaps of language limitations”, “an immigrated tongue is like that of a serpent, it wraps and is spitted. When 2 languages come from the same tongue, it sounds like the hissing of the serpent, mispronouncing. This piece embodies a long sought after question of Shen Yuan: reality is made of blended cultures, how much can we rely on and communicate with one another? In what way can we communicate the direct emotions of the self to “the other”, how can one express the life experience to “the other”, how can language reveal the perceivable, the complex and the transitioning of the dialogue in different context?”
Shen Yuan once said that the duty of artists is to “attach information to objects”. If her wish is to give a lifeless object an ability to speak, then, she means to enable it to communicate through existing and multi-polar languages, spoken or written. However, the thought shows the shortcomings of language, it is limited and is exclusive, it maybe that only something visual can penetrate meanings into images. “My interest had always been the transitioning of images, it had always been the starting point of my works…” In Shen Yuan’s creativity, “objects” always have multi-layered meanings, seemingly random choices often reflect certain metaphors. Does this show that the objects are trying to reveal their itemized and historic points-of view?
Or is it a depiction of a seeping-away of life, time and memory? Maybe it has its political agendas hidden within?----Political conflict against the self: drifting and/of language, cultural communication within globalization, the possibilities of interpretation, language and political freedom. Shen Yuan once said, she wishes to reveal the subliminal language within objects and turn the life-less into the lively, the mundane into fantastic and the useful into the useless. As an artist, she is fond of highlighting those minor details which expresses the sensitive and delicate aspects of her soul as an artist as well as her understanding of life and the world around her. We will see in this exhibition her experience and her detailed thoughts slowly moving amidst her memories and ponderings, not to mention the profound and touching temperament of her art.