Biography
Wu Liangyan
1982 Born in Fujian Province,China
Upwards --- Inflated Thoughts We are growing up in a time of inflated desires, and we are surviving, thinking and changing under the pressure of desires. Over-inflated desires are making the growing young generation too precocious. Children are injected with the competitive mind too early. Under the supervision of grown-ups who tend to compare blindly with each other, children just pursue to go upwards. Meanwhile, they are shouldering huge physical and emotional burden.
Childhood memories are meant to be the purest memories of a person. However, shaped by Wu Liangyan, we see one innocent face after another, one exaggerated misshaped huge head after another, and we see the ridiculous and weird childhood, the twisted and stressful childhood. Exaggeration is the art form Wu Liangyan likes to use. Red tie and huge head are personal symbols of Wu Liangyan. Combining the two simple elements delicately is the reflection of Wu Liangyan’s mature and deep observation towards art, life and society.
To young artists born after the 80s and growing up under the red flag, the symbolization of the red tie is known to all. It represents the expectation to be acknowledged. Exaggeration is one of the common skills used in contemporary sculpture, yet the differences in exaggeration show the characteristics of artists. Among many of Wu Liangyan’s sculptures, no matter Singing for the Motherland Series, Book & Burden Series, or The Applauding Series, people’s heads and bodies are extremely un-proportional. He exaggerates people’s head to the extreme so that it reflects the distortion of people’s body and mind. Wu Liangyan is an artist of a strong mind. The exaggerated and distorted huge head he shapes not only is to reflect the distortion in body’s development, but more to show the confusion led by the inflated mind. The change in a person’s inner spirit is represented through the explicit inflated body.
During the completion of this art work, Wu Liangyan expresses his thinking towards the world, which was pressed in his heart. We could say that the exaggerated head is the best way to express many of Wu Liangyan’s indescribable thoughts. Zhao Xinrui wrote in 798.
Solo Exhibition
2009 Upwards -- Wu Liangyan’s solo Exhibition, Beijing798,China
Group Exhibitions
2009 Histoire Recente--China Contemporary Art Exhibition, France
2009 China's driving force - the Yearbook of China International Sculpture Exhibition,Beijing
2008 China-Korea Arts Exchange Exhibition, Beijing
2008 The survival of the scene - Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shangshang International Museum of Art
2008 The 1st Songzhuang Youth Artists Exhibion,Beijing
2008 Sculpture Party,The 1st Songzhuang Sculpture Communication Exhibition,Beijing
2008 The Power of Life,Beijing
2007 Black International Documentary Art Exhibition,Beijing
2007 Made in Songzhuang?,Beijing
2006 The 4th International World Chorus Festivalv1-Arts Exhibition,Xiamen
2005 Gulangyu Island Intemational Contemporary Carving Museum Works Exhibition , Xiamen
2004 The 8th International Character Carving Outdoor Exhibition,