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Edutainment > Articles on Art > Qujing Art Institute > Yang Yongsheng - born 1967

Yang Yongsheng

Strong Wind, 1993
copyright Yang Yongsheng

Mr. Yang Yongsheng is a leading Chinese printmaker from Yunnan province. Currently (2006) he makes his master degree in fine arts at the printmaking department of Hawaii University as a fellow of the Ford Foundation. Yang Yongsheng works in reduction woodblocks, woodblocks and a special form of "positive etchings". His works from the 1990s are a part of the history of what is now called the Yunnan Art School. Prints by the artist have received numerous prizes at the great national, annual print and art shows of China and are in Chinese and Japanese museums.

Mr. Yang Yongsheng's Career

Yang Yongsheng was born in 1967 in Qujing City, Yunan Province. In 1991 he graduated from the printmaking department of Yunnan Art University.

Even before his graduation the artist soon achieved the maximum recognition for printmakers in China - the admission to the nation-wide, annual Chinese Print Exhibitions and the annual, national Chinese Art Exhibitions. These are still today the most important national exhibition events for Chinese artists. Several works by the young artist had received prices in these grand shows and had been taken into the collections of several museums. The National Art Museum of China was one of them.

After his graduation Yang Yongsheng joined the Qujing Printmaking Institute as a professional artist. The same year he became a member of Yunnan Artists' Association. He was also elected as Vice-Secretary General of Qujing Artists' Association. In 1996, he became the Vice-President of Qujing Printmaking Institute. And in 1999 Yang Yongsheng became a member of China Artists Association. The very same year, he became President of the Qujing Printmaking Institute. In 2002 he was elected as the Chairman of Qujing Artist Association.

Ford Foundation Fellowship

Yang Yongsheng

Under the Tree, 2004
copyright Yang Yongsheng

In 2004 Mr. Yang Yongsheng had been accepted for a full scholarship by the Ford Foundation. In January 2006 the artist came to Hawaii, U.S.A. to study at Hawaii University for a master degree in fine arts/printmaking.

Mr. Yang Yongsheng is very happy to have been selected as one of 460 fellows out of 20,000 applicants from 22 countries. And he is especially proud to be the second applicant from China to be accepted by the Ford Foundation in the field of fine arts.

The Art of Yang Yongsheng

Mr. Yang Yongsheng works in the techniques of woodblocks, reduction woodblocks and a special form of etching. The etching technique used by Yang Yongsheng can be described as Etching Positive Print. Hardly anybody in China used this technique before him. The artist explains it as follows:

"My technique is different from traditional etching. Traditional etching is commonly seen as negative printing where the ink is in the incised lines and where a hand or mechanical press is used for printing. But my method is positive printing. The ink is on the bulge area and the entire printing process is done by hand - like for traditonal woodcut prints. The only difference is that the carving is replaced by the acid. Before my fist creations in this technique - a series of insects - hardly anybody used this technique in China. These prints ware collected by National Art Museum of China in 1991. The effect of this special technique is different from traditional etching and woodcut. The printing process is more difficult and requires more skill. Some critics in China call it Etching Positive Print."
(original text edited by artelino)

The woodblock prints and reduction woodblock prints that he created in the 1990s are typical for what is today called the Yunnan Art School. It is hard to describe in words what "Yunnan Art School" stands for unless you have seen works by artists like Ma Li, Zhang Xiaochun, Cheng Hsu or Hao Ping. The common bond of "Yunnan Art School" are expressive compositions in usually strong, vivid colors, subjects taken from the world of the so-called ethnic minority population in Yunnan (who live mostly in the subtropical South of Yunnan province), the use of thick oil-based colors and the dominant use of the technique of the reduction woodblock print. This technique is said to have even been invented in Yunnan.

Many of the Yunnan artists who create images from the lives and legends of the ethnic minority people in Yunnan, are also attracted by subjects from Tibet. Yang Yongsheng is no exception. Among his prints ouvres are quite a few that show images from Tibet. Both, the Tibetans and the ethnic minority groups in Yunnan practice Buddhism.

The editions of woodblock prints by Yang Yongsheng from the 1990s and later are small - some of them extremely small with only 10 or 20 copies. At the time when these prints were created, they were not made for an art market - it did not exist in China at that time - but mainly for the fame of the artist. And fame was identical with being admitted to the annual national Chinese print and art shows. And the ultimate fame was to receive an award at these exhibitions. This often meant that the awarded works were shown later in official state-organized exhibitions outside China and/or that they were taken into the collections of Chinese ot even foreign museums.

Yang Yongsheng is one of the artists whose art prints have been accepted, awarded and made their way into several museums in China and Japan.

Exhibitions

Yang Yongsheng

A Girl in the Forest, 1992
copyright Yang Yongsheng

1990 - First National Young Artists' Printmaking Exhibition, China.
1991 - Art Festival of Xihu Lake National Fine Arts Exhibition, China.
1991 - 4th National Exhibition of Intaglio, Lithographic and Screen Prints, China.
1991 - National Fine Arts Exhibition, China.
1992 - Contemporary Printmaking Exhibition, China.
1994 - 12th National Printmaking Exhibition, China.
1996 - 13th National Printmaking Exhibition, China.
1997 - 11th National New Artists and New Works Exhibition, China.
1997 - International Wash-And-Ink Arts Exhibition Maple Leaf Award, Canada.
1998 - 14th National Printmaking Exhibition, China.
1999 - 9th China National Fine Arts Exhibition, China.
2001 - National Fine Arts Exhibition in 2001, China.
2001 - 4th National Traditional Painting Exhibition, China.
2001 - 21th Century China Painting Exhibition, Australia.
2002 - 16th National Printmaking Exhibition, China.
2003 - Second Chinese Fine Arts Jincai Award Exhibition, China.
2003 - 11th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibition, Taiwan.
2004 - 10th China National Fine Arts Exhibition, China.

Group Exhibition

Yang Yongsheng

Belief Road, 1998
copyright Yang Yongsheng

1993 - Fine Arts Works Exhibition of Six Artists from Yunnan. (National Art Museum of China, Beijing)
1994 - Yunnan Modern Strong Color Painting Exhibition in America. (Nanghai Art Center, Los Angeles, U.S.A)
1995 - Yunnan Modern Strong Color Painting Exhibition in America. (Nanghai Art Center, Los Angeles, U.S.A)
1995 - Fine Arts Exhibition from Qujing Printmaking Institute. (Beijing International Art Gallery)
1996 - Yunnan Modern Strong Color Painting Exhibition in America. (Nanghai Art Center, Los Angeles, U.S.A)
2000 - Qujing Fine Arts Exhibition in Chinese Art Exposition 2000. (Beijing International Exhibition Center)
2001 - Taiwan Wash-And-Ink Arts VS. Yunnan Strong Color Arts Exhibition. (Taizhong, Taipei)
2004 - Exhibition of Selected Yunnan Engravings. (Shanghai International Exposition Center)

Awards

Yang Yongsheng

Sweet Dream, 1994
copyright Yang Yongsheng

1997 - Outstanding prize of Canadian Maple Leave International Wash-And-Ink Arts Exhibition, Canada.
1999 - 2nd Prize of the 5th Yunnan Printmaking Exhibition, China.
1999 - 2nd Prize of Yunnan Art Works Exhibition, China.
2000 - 3rd Prize of the 3th Yunnan Literature And Art Creation Foundation Awards, China.
2001 - Glory Prize of the 4th Chinese Traditional Painting Exhibition, China.
2004 - 2nd Prize of the Yunnan Art Works Exhibition, China.

Public Collections

Yang Yongsheng

The Rising Sun, 2001
copyright Yang Yongsheng

5 print works and 1 painting work collected by National Art Museum of China.
3 painting works collected by Beijing International Art Museum, China.
7 print works collected by Japanese Aioi Forest Art Museum, Japan.
1 print work collected by Shanghai Art Museum, China.
2 print works collected by Japanese Qiandaitian Gallery, Japan.
1 print work collected by Shengzhou Print Museum, China.
1 print work collected by Jiangsu Art Museum, China.
1 print work collected by Shengzheng Art Museum, China.
1 print work collected by Anhui Art Museum, China.
6 print works collected by Yunan Art University, China.
1 print work collected by Shengzheng Art Institute, China.

Dieter and Yorie
June 2006

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