Collection
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Asian Art

On the Quiet Water - Underwater Paradise (止水之上 － 水下乐园)

Yang Yongliang

1 of 12

Object Label

In this panoramic work, Yang Yongliang digitally manipulates photographic images to deconstruct the skyline of modern-day Shanghai and to comment on the environmental ravages caused by China’s unbridled modernization. His handscroll evokes the harmonious landscapes and visual poetry of classic Southern Song paintings (1127–1279), in which delicate gradations of ink wash and textured brush strokes were used to depict mountains shrouded in mist and surrounded by watery shoals and rocky shores. In this landscape, what appear to be mountains are formed of densely layered images of monumental skyscrapers, and pine trees are instead made of sprawling construction cranes and electrical pylons. The surging tsunami sweeping through the dystopian landscape foreshadows the ecological destruction. Reflecting on the traumatic loss of traditional urban architecture and ways of life, Yang says:

City and Landscape: I love them and hate them at the same time. I love the familiarity of the city, but more so I hate it growing too fast and invading everything around it at an unexpected speed. The ancient Chinese expressed their appreciation of nature and feeling for it by painting the landscape. In contrast, I make my landscape to criticize the realities [before] my eyes.

Caption

Yang Yongliang (Chinese, born 1980). On the Quiet Water - Underwater Paradise (止水之上 － 水下乐园), 2008. Media inkjet print on paper, mounted as a hand scroll, image: 19 11/16 × 111 13/16 in. (50 × 284 cm) mount: 20 7/8 × 210 1/16 in. (53 × 533.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. Myron Arlen, Benjamin Faber, Dr. Ellen Pan, and Dr. John Tchang, by exchange, 2017.2. © Yang Yongliang. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Asian Art

Title

On the Quiet Water - Underwater Paradise (止水之上 － 水下乐园)

Date

2008

Geography

Place made: China

Medium

Media inkjet print on paper, mounted as a hand scroll

Classification

Photograph

Dimensions

image: 19 11/16 × 111 13/16 in. (50 × 284 cm) mount: 20 7/8 × 210 1/16 in. (53 × 533.6 cm)

Markings

Artist's seal.

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. Myron Arlen, Benjamin Faber, Dr. Ellen Pan, and Dr. John Tchang, by exchange

Accession Number

2017.2

Rights

© Yang Yongliang

The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.

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Artists and makers

Yang Yongliang

1 work in the collection