Out of the Past: Profile of Yang Yongliang

I first met Chinese contemporary artist Yang Yongliang on a freezing winter’s day a couple of years ago, when I visited his Shanghai studio in a heritage building one block back from the Bund, just a stone’s throw from the sluggish Huangpu River. He had only used the studio—his first—for a year; prior to this, he worked from a room at home. He was neatly dressed, with close-cropped hair, and peered out at the world through owlish spectacles. In keeping with his appearance, the studio was similarly tidy, with several computers spread across a large desk—a common sight now for an artist whose practice involves photography, video and moving image. In stark contrast to this high-tech set-up, calligraphy brushes, pens and ink blocks were fastidiously arranged on a smaller desk, and a calligraphy sampler done by Yang when he was 12 years old was mounted on the opposite wall.

• China
• USA