2021 - Wang Liang-Yin｜The Iris of Beasts

Forum 2021.04.03 15:00
Panelists: Dean of Fine Art College, NTUA Chen Kuang-Yi, Curator of Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts Wang Rui-Xu, Artist Wang Liang-Yin


Lin & Lin Gallery is pleased to present The Iris of Beasts – Solo Exhibition of WANG Liang-Yin in March, curated by WANG Rui-Xu, bringing the latest works of the artist. In this exhibition, the unvisitable metaphors that hidden behind this era reflected through the artist's eyes, leading the viewers to penetrate the boundary of three-dimensional material and face the more core mental appearance of the age.

About beasts, historically, myths and stories have commonly brought people together on a large scale. Religion is one such example, as is an economic system and capital. In his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari advances the idea that Homo sapiens successfully defeated other human species and exist today due to their ability to think abstractly. From wild beasts, they became gods who now dominate the planet. In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Hosea in the Hebrew Bible, God punished the Kingdom of Israel for apostasy. Thus God, the guardian shepherd, became a murderous beast. Antonio Negri in his book Empire, claims capital, a formless beast of unsteady and constantly fluctuating flesh, has flooded the world. It has neither exterior nor interior. Caught between these two beasts—a murderous God and para-colonial capitalism—humans have generated conflicting values and turn to all sorts of fantasies to satisfy their desires, thus spawning yet another beast—the beast of desire. Therefore finally, three beasts－God and theology; the economy and capital; and Homo sapiens and desire－have born.

Composed of complex networks of capillaries and neurons, the iris－also known as one of the ancient Greek goddesses who is the messenger of gods－as an extension of the nervous system and brain, helps to create our vision of the outside world and forms a messaging system. The iris is also a map reflecting certain imbalances in the body. At this moment when the three beasts of theology, capital and desire have come together, Wang Liang-Yin uses the iris's visual function of controlling the influx of light to select her materials, and with the perceptions created by the iris's messaging system, forms an iris effect regarding the immaterial boundary between spirit and consciousness and belonging to her generation. So far, the three beasts no longer merely collide with one another. This means that through the iris effect of looking out at the world and introspection, differences and edges are made to exist by way of a fold. In the interactive fabrication of real matter and immaterial consciousness, an impact happens that creates another direction of movement that is different from our usual paths, thus opening up another spatial dimension. In intersubjectivity, the unique human mind and cosmology of this generation is reflected and looks directly at the iris of beasts.

 

"Modern science and modern empires were motivated by restless feeling that perhaps something important awaited beyond the horizon－something they had better explore and master."
──Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

In Wang's paintings, the dissatisfaction of humans is flowing. The dimension that the artist creates beyond three dimensions is drifting near and far like a dream, yet real as reality at the same time. It is an organic space that is not only touchable, visible but also carrying hundreds of thousands of consciousness of souls. It is sometimes sweet and warm, sometimes bizarre and cruel instead. Maybe it is here that we are able a step closer to the most vital and unique nature buried deep under the consciousness as a human.


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Wang has been not only in Taiwan but also overseas for exhibitions such as New York, Germany, UK, Japan, Jakarta, Korea, and China. She had solo exhibitions "Happy Birthday, My Dear" at Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei in 2014, "The End of the Rainbow" at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei in 2018. Wang's artworks are collected by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Art Bank Taiwan,  Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Long Yen Foundation, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taichung County Seaport Art Center, and Sunpride Foundation, and are not only selected by Kaohsiung Award but also won the first prize of NewPerspective Art in Taiwan Dimensional Creation Series, Long Yen Foundation Creative Arts Award, Chang Hsing Lung Award and so on.

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Curatorial Statement｜Wang Rui-Xu, In the Age of the Beasts: Wang Liang-Yin's Iris Effect, 2021