It is reported that artist Yu Youhan passed away due to illness at 19:30 on December 13, 2023, at the age of 80.

1991

Art expresses the freedom of the heart.
Art helps break the constraints of consciousness and culture.
Art is connected to tradition on one end and the future on the other.
Art seeks novelty, but novelty is not the only goal.
Art is creation, but creation is not the only requirement.
Art requires honesty, and artists should be honest, but honesty is not art.
Art pursues perfection, but perfect art is the most imperfect.
Contemporary art does not come from life, contemporary art comes from culture.
After too much criticism, people long for silence. At this time, beauty is silence.

​

1985

"Inner needs" urge me to make new explorations. I think that modern paintings cannot only have an intuitive formal beauty, nor can they only have some impetuous mood swings.I must seek an image that combines highly generalized emotions with highly generalized ideas. This should be my new goal.

It is the mission of modern Chinese artists to combine the creative techniques of modern Western painting with China's profound national cultural traditions to present a new style of modern Chinese painting.

2004

The precious thing about art is freedom, I have the right to make choices. Leaving the turmoil and bustle of the city, I felt very happy among the blue sky and honest people. I always think,Only by finding inspiration from your own life can you truly create something.
So I paint, I can only paint. Because I like it, just like Duchamp liked playing chess.
Duchamp said that his life was his best art.
I say my art is my best life.
This is my concept.
Therefore, "art without concept" can actually be said to be "super conceptual art".

2003

Even so, when my viewers see my paintings, they may still not understand why one side of the eyebrows is green and the other side is purple, and why the face is painted in various colors? I can't convince everyone here. What I can say is my most basic understanding of painting: the essence of painting is two-dimensional. The combination or matching of various color blocks with various shapes and colors forms an opposite and unified whole. Paintings with different themes, They are all the same on this basic issue.

1985

The Chinese nation is wise, simple, and reserved. Chinese art is beautiful, elegant, natural, and highly generalized. It opposes naturalism, posturing, going overboard or showing off skills, and pays attention to "joy but not obscenity, sadness but not resentment", thus fully embodying our national characteristics.I am particularly interested in the Taoist philosophy of simple dialectics represented by Laozi in ancient China.Lao Tzu's dialectical view of "movement and development" is very wise. His ideas of natural inaction, quietness and weakness are more in line with my personality and temperament, so I conceived and created a kind of indifferent and quiet style that can integrate myself and my own understanding of national culture. A painting that contains movement.

I got rid of the strong colors and used black and white as the main tone, with slight changes of cold and warm; I used ink techniques; I got rid of straight lines and used curves instead; I made more conscious use of some accidental effects. My paintings come from composition, but at this stage, the grammar of composition is no longer visible, the emotional elements of the painting are strengthened, and the "foreign flavor" has basically disappeared. Can we think that they are already modern Chinese paintings?

Worship of the universe. It is this boundless, beginningless and endless vast universe that nurtures us humans and our individuals. It is an object worthy of our continuous worship and praise. Laozi once said, "Tao produces one, which produces two, two produces three, and three produces all things."I want to eulogize the entire world, and return it to the origin of eulogizing the world - "One". I would like to use "circle" as a representative; "circle" is a spiritual symbol and a special symbol. At the same time, I want to celebrate all things, which are the concrete embodiment of the universe; all things are tangible, and I hint at them through "quality" in the painting.

Worship of the Universal Spirit. The so-called cosmic spirit refers to the behavior and state of mind that conform to the general laws of the development of the universe. There are general laws for the development of the universe, which also include specific laws for the development of various specific things. Since things are always connected, specific laws and general laws are in harmony. Therefore, as long as the development of any local thing conforms to the general law of the development of the universe, we can consider it to have the spirit of the universe. Various "errors" in human behavior are caused by violations of the laws of development of things. Laozi's philosophy particularly emphasizes "nature" and "inaction", which means that we must conform to the spirit of the universe and do not do things that violate the laws.

2010

I also studied calligraphy, and my main focus at that time was copying.Wu Changshuo's Stone Drum Essays.I have been interested in some Chinese arts since college. I realized that the categories of Chinese art are very wide and the quality is very high. The Chinese people have their own aesthetic characteristics. Humanistic emotions always come first, they do whatever they want, and they never engage in mechanical and rigid things.

Painted pottery is also one of my earliest favorites.The shape and pattern of painted pottery are simple and very modern. Traditional sculptures also often fascinate me. From the tomb of Huo Qubing to the small wood carvings from the Han Dynasty in the museum, they are all very high-quality works of art. There are also portrait bricks and portrait stones, whose figures and animal shapes are either free and unrestrained, with concise brushwork and a strong sense of life; or they depict classic images smoothly, forming scenes of life and labor that are extremely rich in generalization and imagination. The high artistic level is rare in the entire world art history.

Chinese art pays great attention to style and puts style first. This is "elegance".In comparison, Western art seems vulgar, especially Western visual art after the Renaissance, which is a representation of life and is closer to the prototype of life."Elegance" first refers to the expression of the inner heart, which is consistent with people's noble spiritual direction; secondly, "elegance" means rare, lonely, quiet, rare, and breaking the norms; thirdly, "elegance" is always related to Simplicity is related to the feeling that the effect is superb with little investment.

But the label "elegant" may be used vulgarly, so it's okay not to use this label. I understand that good things should be very natural and simple, not deliberately obtained, nor are they high-quality products in the general sense. Moreover, good things generally seem to be relatively moderate. Maybe metal, wood, water, fire, and earth can be taken into consideration at the same time (of course, with some emphasis). In the final analysis, good things can always be beneficial to life, beneficial to life, and can be beneficial in the long term and generally beneficial. This means staying away from luxury and showing off. Stay away from number one.

In the early 1980s, there was a new atmosphere in all aspects of the country. Everyone felt that they were beginning to live in an air of freedom, and they all wanted to create some new paintings. They felt that only in this way could they adapt to the new era and express the new era. It was from that impulse that abstract painting began to be experimented with. In the 1980s, ideological control was relaxed, and various Western philosophical trends spread. Many students and young teachers rushed to learn and understand it.

I read some introductory articles, including Nietzsche's philosophy, Laozi's Tao Te Ching, Western natural science and Eastern mysticism, capitalism and Protestant Christianity, etc. Among them, the Tao Te Ching has the greatest influence on me and resonates with me the most. I long for a free, peaceful, diverse and harmonious society. In such a society, everyone can develop comprehensively. This is also what Marx advocated.

The creation and development of anything has its own inherent laws, just like the natural formation of a forest. If the earth's crust changes in this place, creating conditions for the survival of animals and plants, then animals and plants will slowly grow here. Over a long period of time the forest was formed. You cannot prescribe in advance what plants or animals must grow here. Everything is determined by the time and place, and there is nothing humans can do about it.

Human power can only be exercised within its own limited scope and must not be abused.

At night, when you go to a place far away from the city and without light pollution and look up at the sky, you will be amazed by the majestic and magical sight of the universe. At this time, you will know the position of human beings in the universe.

I think black and white are very solemn and solemn, suitable for expressing the connotation of "circle", that is, abstractly, symbolically and comprehensively expressing the basic movement of the universe.

The basic units of everything are simple, and different combinations of a large number of units may express various forms of things. This is a bit like the current digital principle. All sounds and images can be expressed with different combinations of 0 and 1. But the expression I am talking about is not the real thing that is presented before our eyes. What I paint is an abstract painting, and the expression I am talking about is just a hint and a feeling. In fact, colored circles were involved from the beginning, and after 1990, more colored circles were drawn. This is to enrich my paintings, and also to see if there are other possibilities. But generally speaking, my paintings are mainly black and white. Apart from what I just mentioned, it is still our tradition. I'm used to looking at black, contrasting black and white. The houses in our Jiangnan area all have white walls and black tiles, coupled with gray (gray-black) square floor tiles, bamboo curtains, natural beech furniture, and wall-creepers growing on the white walls.I think it is very beautiful, and it expresses a philosophy of longing for a simple life.

2009

My abstract works not only want to accommodate the microcosm of society, but also want to express the microcosm of nature and people.(My painting) is like a leap of thought, where the interrupted thought will be resumed at the other end.

Even if I stick to abstraction, I will gradually change my style over the years. But I just like to change. For example, when drawing a circle, I first draw a black one, then a white one, and then another black one. Instead of being like a scientist, I always study a project for 20 or 50 years. Until the research is thorough. I was very happy to see the picture in my mind appear. Then get stimulation from society to change yourself to cope with newer stimulation. So this (change) was natural for me.

2005

In the early stages of Chinese contemporary art, such as the "Stars Art Exhibition" and the "1985 New Wave" works, content was more important than form.The so-called content refers to the expression of concerns about social issues and inner emotions caused by social stimulation.From the second half of the 1990s to the present, Chinese contemporary artists have shown less concern for social phenomena and more for the introduction of new Western forms and artistic methods of operation.

The so-called "Chinese characteristics", I think, refers to the mixture of "concern for society" and "intuitive expression of immature, non-classical and irrational emotions".

As for the best part,Chinese contemporary art is a combination of heightened emotion and secularity, freshness, and eclectic creativity of language. They have not only become important classics of Chinese art in this period, but also a dynamic force in this period of world art history.

Although the Chinese method is still relatively weak at present, on the whole it will be maintained for a long time and become increasingly mature. This is determined by China's vast territory and its long artistic and cultural tradition.

Although I had no concept of the "Chinese way" in my initial creations, I am Chinese and it is impossible to leave the "Chinese way".

In the early 1980s, when I was painting abstract paintings, I thought about giving my paintings a "Chinese look", but that didn't work out at first. Then I painted the "Circle" series, which I thought should be contemporary and Chinese.

Due to the differences between China and the West in terms of geography, history and culture, Chinese culture and art will be different from the West in the past, present and foreseeable future. This is an objective existence. This difference is not a bad thing but a contribution to the cultural richness of the world. But due to a variety of factors, this difference is not always positive. Perhaps for a long time to come, the main task of China's cultural construction will still be to eliminate the negative influence of this culture.

2006

What I mean by success is not necessarily business success. Success is first of all the success of the heart, sincerity, dedication and enterprising spirit. Because art is for others to see. People don't care about you, they just want to be moved. Of course, this kind of emotion must be expressed through the beauty of art. Art studies life and art expresses life. These old sayings that I have heard over the years are not outdated and will never be outdated in my opinion. But don’t be too “materialistic” in your understanding. For example, among the same abstract paintings, one may look like boiled water, while the other may convey the joys and sorrows of life.Life is diverse, and we must be good at understanding and expressing subtle feelings, expressing the different feelings we have experienced in life. This way the art will be rich and colorful.

2009

I usually like foreign artists, first the Impressionists, then the Post-Impressionists, Matisse, Picasso, and then the American Abstract Expressionists. Then when I returned to China, I discovered that there were many good artists in China, especially in ancient times. This is a big (concept). If you ask about my personal teacher, there is no one who can be called a teacher.

Being a teacher is assigned by the state. At first I didn't know if it was good or not, but later I found that I had more time at my disposal. I can draw and I meet students who like art. Can communicate and learn from each other. So I later thought that being a teacher would be a good idea.

2013

You can't draw the same as the object. What's more important is that you have to create and distance yourself from the object to some extent, so that you can express the emotions you need to express. You can list some great artists from fifty or a hundred years ago and see how they passed this level. How to master their objects and then leave the objects to achieve more reality. Matisse once said that the most important thing in art is truth. For us Chinese, truth is when you draw, for example, a hand exactly according to proportion. This is called truth, but what they talk about is emotion and heart. of truth. If your hands are always moving, then your reality is the feeling of movement.

As an artist, you must at least be aware of the direction of society.In fact, it’s not just artists, everyone should stay awake. Artists must focus on big questions. Since we study art with love, when there is love, there must be hatred. We will inevitably be disgusted with things that are not worthy of love, so we will find ways to expose and criticize. Without this impulse, you are not a good artist.

Nowadays, there are many exhibitions opening, and art publications are delivered every now and then, which is very lively. But I think it’s better to be on the edge at this time, because when people are in the whirlpool, they will be enveloped in noise and unable to see clearly.

After observing, express a certain attitude and maintain a certain distance, especially things that everyone is passionate about now, such as so-called "contemporary art". I always suspect that there are some forces at work. They have blurred some clear boundaries in the past. For example, in the past, we pursued truth, goodness and beauty, but today we only pursue money. Whatever can make money is good and correct, even if it is fake, evil and ugly. Maybe some of them are just investments. They invest a little money and earn more than a little.

I feel that when going abroad, you should not just focus on your own paintings, but you should also learn from others. In 1993, I didn’t see much in Venice. After the São Paulo Biennale in 1994, I went to the United States and looked at museum after museum. Before this, there were several foreign exhibitions in Shanghai that impressed me deeply, including French rural landscape exhibitions, American abstract painting exhibitions, etc. When I looked at abstract paintings, I mainly looked at their concepts. At that time, I discovered that I could paint like this. Later, I added considerations about Chinese philosophy to create my own abstract paintings.

To sum it up now, when I went abroad, I just wanted to verify what most of the familiar things I had seen in albums, such as Van Gogh’s original paintings, were like. At that time, I wrote in a letter to friends in China that the ultimate goal of returning to the United States was to bid farewell to the United States.The meaning of saying goodbye is to basically understand their images and styles, so that when you come back, you can paint and paint your own things.

2010

"We" are not only the emotional connection of my life day and night, but also the group of people I am afraid to avoid. After a long period of feudal dynasty rule and countless changes and changes in thought and society, we are powerless to achieve big interests, so we have become cautious. I know and do not understand our compatriots, I am familiar with them and I do not understand them at the same time. We are both smart and ignorant, emotional and insensitive. For many years, we have learned how to live and were the first to know how to enjoy, but we have also lived the most miserable and inhumane days for a long time. Have we used our wisdom in the wrong place? Our sacrifices in all aspects have never been rewarded.I feel both sympathy and resentment towards us. "Sorrow for his misfortune and resent his failure to fight," Lu Xun said.

The Terracotta Warriors and Horses represent the national character of the Qin and Han dynasties, a time when our nation was relatively masculine compared to the Ming and Qing dynasties. But in my opinion, the terracotta warriors and horses are just rows of war machines that lack humanity. They cannot fight for themselves, and they do not understand what freedom is. From hundreds of years BC to modern times, we will only repeat feudal dynasties one after another without any change in nature. Putting ancient sculptures and images of contemporary people together in a dark scene is the result of my investigation of our historical memories. Ancient times are the past of today's China, and contemporary times are the continuation of ancient China. Although China is now one of the world's major economic powers, and China was also a major economic power in the world during the Ming and Qing dynasties and before that, there was a folk song in the Han Dynasty that said: "Those who sell salt drink light soup, and those who weave mats sleep naked." Bed", this situation is even worse today.

2009

When I saw the large-scale construction of high-rise buildings in the city, I felt as confused as the eyes of the girl in the painting. I called those buildings "empty shells." Under such circumstances, I went to Yimeng Mountain in 2002.

2010

There are more than twenty works in the "Yimeng Mountain" series, and each one seems to be painted using an independent technique.Before I started painting, I had thought that landscapes are not easy to paint. There are countless landscape or landscape painters at home and abroad in ancient and modern times, and there are many successful and good works. It would be difficult to blaze a new path. So I had to adopt the principle of appropriation, taking a little bit of Western paintings, a little bit of Chinese paintings, and patching things together, but each painting strives to be complete and unified.​

2009

The landscape is just stone and mud.

2010

Recently I went to some places in the northwest and took some photos. This time I saw some more open scenes and wanted to draw them. In the past, during the Qin and Han dynasties, our aesthetic habits were in the Gobi desert; in the Ming and Qing dynasties, our aesthetic interests were in urban gardens; now in the contemporary era, our aesthetic scope is in bonsai roots. I think with the development of the times, people's vision and mind should continue to broaden and advance. How come we are reversed? We have seen outer space photos taken by the Hubble Telescope in space. This magical scene is our It was unimaginable before, but I think landscape and abstract painting may become one in the future.

My "Yimeng Mountain No. 5" is the image of two girls in a dense cornfield. For me, this painting belongs to both the "Yimeng Mountain" series and the "Ah! Us" series. It contains both the earth and the people. It can also be said that the entire "Yimeng Mountain" painting is a painting of the simple people and the land beneath their feet.

About the artist

1943 born in Shanghai
1962 Joined the People's Liberation Army of China
1965 After being discharged from the army, he was admitted to the Department of Ceramics of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts (now Tsinghua University Academy of Arts and Design).
1973 After graduating with a bachelor's degree, he returned to Shanghai and taught at Shanghai Arts and Crafts School.
1985 “Circle” series was officially born
1993 Invited to participate in the 45th Venice Biennale, becoming one of the first Chinese artists to enter the Venice Biennale
2016 Shanghai Power Station of Art holds the largest and most comprehensive retrospective exhibition of Yu Youhan to date.
2020 ShanghART Gallery launches Yu Youhan's first solo exhibition in Beijing space "Traveling", presenting his representative abstract works of the 2010s

Please stay tuned to ArtPro for more updates on the global art market.