China
Statement
Since living in the United States for a decade,Frank Yefeng Wang’s experiences away from his home country of China have provided a profound reflection on his artistic production. His work has become increasingly concerned with finding meaning in life through borders, traveling overseas, and between fact and fiction. The concept of constant relocation, adventure and seeking the significance of home and truth is always a crucial component in the artist’s researches.
Frank Yefeng Wang’s projects incorporate media including 3D animation, 3D prints, digital prints, VR and sculpture, resulting in installations full of poetic and peculiar visual language. As a digital native, his current work grapples with obscure borders between the real physical world and artificial virtual spaces. His most recent works are an amalgamation of the various landscapes he encounters – drawing inspiration from contemporary iconographies, mythologies, and inspiring/enlightening proverbs and delirium found in old books. Rotation Method (2018) is exemplary of this. The animated short film depicts a surreal journey of a traveler in a gold plated racing helmet accompanied by a dog with a phonograph shaped-head. Referencing the rotation method theory by Kierkegaard, the film places a great emphasis on the emotional transformation of moving to and residing in the United States. Another work, [‘penthaus] (2017) quotes Liu Ling’s claim of the universe as his house and the house as his underpants in “Shishuo Xinyu”. In the animation, a virtual home, in the shape of a common pair of jeans, is traversed by a pig without backlimbs – a metaphor for the strong psychological experience of my ongoing sojourn in the west. Both of the recent works offer meditations on the artist’s experiences in the United States in comparison to his metaphorical “past life” in China.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from January 2020 to March 2020
GlogauAIR Project
Since living in the United States for a decade, my experiences away from home country of China have provided a profound reflection on my creation. My work has become increasingly concerned with finding meaning in life going through borders, traveling and experiencing different cultures, and between fact and fiction. The concept of constant relocation, adventure and seeking the significance of home and truth is always a crucial component in my research. My projects incorporate media including 3D animation, 3D prints, digital prints, VR and sculpture, resulting in installations full of poetic and peculiar visual language.
As a creator who is a digital native, my work grapples with the obscure borders between the real physical world and “fake” virtual spaces. In this sense, I am a nomad – traversing both. No matter what landscapes I travel, my sojourns are always accompanied by the idea of confronting hyperreality. In my daily life, I immerse in digital spaces, virtuality, technologies, and the questioning of the notion of “home”. As a result, my works are filled with absurdity and surrealism – they are a constant investigation of both the real and the fake – and how society attempts to navigate and understand these territories. Drawing inspiration from the locations I travel to, contemporary iconographies, and inspiring proverbs and delirium found in old books, my works are an amalgamation of the various landscapes I traverse.
An example of one of my current projects is “The Birds of Harlem”. Initiated in West Harlem, New York (one of the significant locations where I traveled to), the project compares the migratory nature of birds to foreigners who move to the U.S and adapt to their new surroundings. The project consists of an animated film alongside a series of 3D printed sculptures – presented together as an installation. The project blends together icons and symbols from Western culture (such as graffiti) with Chinese mythology.
“The Birds of Harlem” continues my narrative of travel. It is intended to encapsulate the past decade of my experiences overseas in the U.S and consequently reflect upon the cross-geographic identity of the population that shares my experience. It contemplates on the flowing state between our borders, spaces, and home – but more importantly, it is an investigation of our collective surroundings in an era of cultural diversity and digital visual culture.
Living primarily on the east coast of America, I have experienced a range of cultural diversity and wish to mold these experiences a new series of works. Working in a new location away from America (such as Berlin, Germany), I am able to further immerse myself in different cultures and observe more activities of cultural migration. Through the GlogauAIR program, I hope to unravel my recent interests and to better understand myself – leading my artwork and research into a new profound direction. The artist residency can provide me the precious time for gathering ideas, polishing concept and studying new visual technologies for my future project.
CV Summary
EDUCATION
- 2013 – present Associate Professor, Digital Media Curriculum, Art Department, Rhode Island College
- 2011 Master of Fine Arts, Art and Technology Studies, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- 2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sculpture, Fine Arts College of Shanghai University
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
- 2019 Bric Biennial, Brooklyn, NY, USA
File Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil
New & Improved, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, USA
Travels Through the Unreal, Outpost Artist Resources, Queens, NY, USA
The Temperature: Something Utopian, The Neon Heater Gallery, Findlay, OH, USA
Ocean (with Slime Engine), MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai, China - 2018 International Festival Les Instants Video, Marseilles, France
Cynetart 2018, Festspielhaus Hellerau and Pylon Lab, Dresden, Germany
Permeable Boundaries, Plexus Projects, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Liminality, The Border Project Space, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Off The Wall, Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, WI, USA
Immortal City, Tianjin Binhai Museum, Tianjin, China
Dyspepsia – Mattia Casalegno x Frank Wang Yefeng, Arete Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA - 2017 Real-Fake 2.0, Connecticut College, Connecticut, USA
Forever Fornever, Wrong Biannual, USA and online
Body Farm, Paradise Palace Gallery, Brooklyn, USA
Two persons show of Wang Yefeng/Shamus Clisset, SUNY Wallace Gallery, Long Island, USA
[‘Penthaus], Between Art Lab, Beijing, China - 2016 Shenzhen MAF Media Art Festival, Shen Zhen, China
Real-Fake.2.0, Bronx Art Space, NY, USA
Threshold Frequency, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China
Dream Space, New Hive, NY, USA
Art in the City, K11 Museum, Shanghai, China
Governors Island Art Fair, NY, USA
Do you wanna play with me?, Between Art Lab, Shanghai, China
The Drifting Stages, Arthub Asia Artists Screening Program, Shanghai, China - 2015 Solo exhibition of Yefeng Wang, New Games, V Art Center, Shanghai, China
Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong
Yami-ichi NYC, Knockdown Art Center, NY, USA
Myth and Mutations, Reverse Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA - 2014 Solo Exhibition of Yefeng Wang, Art Projects Gallery, Hong Kong
- 2009-2013 Art Sanya, Hainan Province, China
Constellations, NARS foundation, Brooklyn, NY, USA
There is A Body on Screen!, Museum of Luxun Academy of Art, Shenyang, China
Solo exhibition: Yefeng Wang: Impersonal, HEREArts Center, New York, USA
InVisible, Co-prosperity Sphere Culture Center, Chicago, USA
Currents 2012, Santa Fe International New Media Festival, El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Mischief, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, USA
Asian Artists Art Festival, Hong-ik University, Seoul, Korea
Videos on the Front, Interstate Projects, New York, USA
Hypercapitalism-East Meets West, Herald Square, New York, USA
Sexier, Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago, USA
Displacement, 33 Collective Gallery, Chicago, USA
Channel x 8, Sullivan Gallery, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Power of Copying, Xuzhou Museum of Art, Xuzhou, China
Around the Coyote, Chicago, USA
SELECTED AWARDS
- 2014 – 2018 Rhode Island College Faculty Research Grant
- 2012 “CAAP” Grant, through the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
- 2011 The Leadership Award, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- 2009 Enrichment Scholarship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
