Huang Yong Ping
Huang Yong Ping
April 28 — June 9, 2018
New York: 21st Street
Gladstone is pleased to present an exhibition by Huang Yong Ping, the artist’s fifth exhibition with the gallery. This show presents Bank of Sand, Sand of Bank, an important historical work by Huang for the first time in New York since its creation nearly two decades ago.
Bank of Sand, Sand of Bank derives its structure from the former HSBC Bank in Shanghai, built in 1923 by the British architecture firm Palmer & Turner. During the Chinese Revolution of 1949, this Neoclassical landmark was transformed into the Communist Municipal People’s Government Building, and later became the headquarters for the Pudong Development Bank in the 1990s. Huang’s 20-ton replica of this edifice, comprised of sand and concrete, contemplates the troubling history this building has lived through while questioning the power of ruling institutions. Through the use of unstable materials, this building, which is meant to stand for security and power, is transformed into a vulnerable and forgotten ruin that appears as though it could collapse at a moment’s notice. The work’s fragility and temporality visualizes the turbulent past and exchanges of power this monument has witnessed over time, while also providing a deeper narrative surrounding the longevity and effectiveness of governing bodies throughout history.
Installation
Work
About
Huang Yong Ping was born in 1954 in Xiamen, Fujian, China, and passed away in 2019 at the age of 65. In 1982, he graduated from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, China and a few years later became the leader of the Xiamen Dada group.
His work has been subject to exhibitions at De Appel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway; Barbican Art Center, London, UK; Musee d’art contemporain, Lyon, France; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Massachusetts; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China; MAXXI, Rome, Italy; Power Station Art, Shanghai, China; and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York.Huang Yong Ping participated in the 48th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.
In 1999, he was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, then in 2015 Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture and Communication. In 2000, he received the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts in recognition of Outstanding Creative Achievement in the field of visual arts. In 2016, he was the winner of the Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany.
Institutional collections include: Astrup Fearnley Museum, Centre Pompidou, DSL Collection, Fondation Cartier, Galeries Lafayette Foundation, Gröningen Museum, Guan Yi collection, Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Ludwig Museum, MoMA, M+ Museum, MCA Chicago, Pinault Collection, Qatar Museums, Red Brick Museum, Rubell Family Collection, Sigg Collection, Walker Art Center and Yuz Museum, among others.
