Wang Luyan. Diagramming Allegory

This publication, accompanying the largest exhibition in Wang Luyan's thirty-year career, presents for the first time recent works, including large-scale murals and installations, sculptures, paintings, and sketches. One of the most important Chinese conceptual artists working today, Wang Luyan (b. 1956) has been actively engaged in the Chinese avant-garde art movement from the very beginning. He was a member of the Stars art group and participated in its groundbreaking exhibitions in 1979 and 1980. During the 85 New Wave art movement and its aftermath, he helped found the Tactile Sensation Group, the Analysts Group, and the New Measurement Group, exploring the nature of art and the subjectivity of artists through experimental projects. Overall, this volume presents a group of significant works of contemporary art, which are unique in transcending the dualist frameworks of "representational" vs. "abstract," or "expressional" vs. "conceptual." Employing the methods of diagramming and allegory to reflect on important problems in today's world, Wang Luyan constructs a special visual language.