Hyartstudio
Liu Yang and Qingjun Huang
Music Series
Liu Yang
I recent creations are inspired by music, working in light instead of in dark, I use darkroom solutions as paints, dripping them on photographic paper, creating abstract patterns. The lines, dots and circles are visual music to me, and they are also fundamental elements of the universe. Moreover I use sunshine to expose paper for hours, even days, known as Lumen print. I also sometimes apply water color on photo paper after the above process is done. --Liu Yang
Another Planet
Liu Yang
ANOTHER PLANET is an imagination of what another planet and alien lives could be in artist’s point of view, also in viewer’s imagination when they participate, and what humanity would be after becoming multi-planetary species. I hope people don’t forget the sea of stars; don’t be at ease with the comfort brought by technology. Considering the risks of the human homeland of the earth, the potential possibility of thermonuclear war, environmental pollution, and climate change, the earth will no longer be habitable one day. Even if none of these things happen, the expansion of the sun will swallow up the earth in another 4 billion years, and the technological development of human beings may migrate to other planets in the not-too-distant future. ANOTHER PLANET series were created in dark room, I used photographic paper as the materials, but images were not taken by camera, they are photogram. The productions of the images were to place the objects between photographic paper and lights, then exposure. Outline and color of the objects are well designed by self-modified lights. Some of the creations adopted multi-exposure by different lights, just like to use lights to draw on the photo paper. In ANOTHER PLANET, I poured transparent aqua on glass or acrylic plate, let them move and mix naturally to create patterns, and then put small objects on it. The preparation of creation took some days, and then I eventually realized it in a big dark room.--Liu Yang
Dream Inception
Liu Yang
Dream Inception is a process of practice inspired by the movie 《Inception》. One day in October 2020, I suddenly realized that I had quite a number of fantastic dreams, but no one about the space. From that day I decided to take 3 months to implant information about space to myself. Everyday I took some time to contact various kinds of information about space, through reading, listening, playing games, thinking or creating, for example watching movies, documentaries, and short videos related with space, reading or listening science fiction novels, reading children’s picture book and playing games. At last, I truely had space dreams that I implanted. During the process of Dream Inception, I created a series of works. Those works were using photographic paper as the materials, but images were not taken by camera, they are photogram. The productions of the images were to place the objects between color photographic paper and lights, then exposure. Details of the objects are lost, some are deformed, some are moved, and these are exactly expressing the vague and abstract feeling in the dreams. Outline and color of the objects are well designed by self-modified lights. Most of the creations adopted multi-exposure, just like to use lights to draw on the photo paper. I kept a dairy everyday, produced Dream Inception Diary, including preface, dairy and postscript. The results of Dream Inception are not only the result that I initially wanted; the three months’ action has enriched my cosmic knowledge greatly. It aroused my fascination with cosmic themes, imagination of the future, and concern of human fate. When we look at our world from the perspective of the universe, we see how tiny we are so does the human civilization. I hope people don’t forget the sea of stars, don’t be at ease with the comfort brought by technology, we must actively face our time, life, and death. My cosmic art theme is started here, and will go on.--Liu Yang
Dream
Liu Yang
I remember having fantastic dreams as a teenager. I wrote some of them down in a notebook, but stopped doing so because of heavy school works. The notebook was later lost when moving. However, my curiosity in dreams remains. A few years ago, I started thinking about how to record my various dreams, and to explore and to look at myself. I find unique gelatin silver photogram a wonderful way to express my dreams, because my dreams are sometimes abstract and vague and mostly they are in black and white, except for occasional sudden bursts of color. Dreams sometimes appear to be daily remnant of consciousness, but mostly they are out of step with reality. Dream sometimes has universality, but most time it is special and dramatic. Since 2017, I’ve been trying to use gelatin silver photo paper as a medium for painting, to record the images appear in my dreams. All the works were created in dark room; they are cameraless photograms, experimental photography. The productions of the images were to place the objects between photographic paper and lights, then exposure. Details of the objects were lost, some were deformed, and some were moved. Outline of the objects are well designed and realized by self-modified lights. Some of the creations adopted multi-exposure by different lights, just like to use lights to draw on the photo paper. I also used developer and fixer to paint on the paper, and I used laser pens to write words, I could not see what I wrote before I put the paper into developer, I was still facing a white paper in the darkroom, I enjoy the mysterious process and the moment my image appear when I develop the paper. Freud said, “Dream is the satisfaction of desire.” I hope to survey the subconscious mind of myself through the contents and emotion in my various dreams, analyze myself through the mind’s activity at night, dig deeply and study the faded memories and the truth from deep in my heart that has been covered by reality.--Liu Yang
