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From March 5: "Empty Mountain" By Ye Wenlong, curated by Yiwei Lu

Speedy Gallery is pleased to announce our new from March 5 to March 26, 2022.

 

"Empty Mountain" by Ye Wenlong

Curated by Yiwei Lu

 

Ye’s style of Chinese landscape photography, draws on the tradition of Chinese “Shanshui” landscape paintings, translating directly to “the paintings of mountain and water.” During the Sixth Dynasty Period (220-589AD) when the Chinese people lived in constant war, nature was the best escape and as a result landscape paintings began to emerge as the symbol of a peaceful life. A good Shanshui painting contains what is referred to as “Yi Jing,” “Yi” being the artist’s personal feelings, tastes, imaginations, thoughts and aesthetic understandings, and “Jing” being the landscape itself. Ye’s photography is a modern interpretation of these traditional Chinese Shanshui paintings. No matter the location, he is able to convey the same consistent Eastern-style of black and white pictorial quality in his landscape photography, having both “Yi” and “Jing.”

 

Inspired by traditional landscape paintings, Ye tends to use a flat perspective to make the photos appear almost two-dimensional. The technique of Liu Bai (negative space) is also often applied in Ye’s photos where he leaves a large amount of white space in the composition. Ancient Chinese intellectuals believe that if a painting is too full, it loses the sense of space and peacefulness. Instead, the negative space in a work is the part that leaves the audience room for imagination and conceptualization.

 

Born in Zhangjiang Province in 1979, Ye is an independent photographer in China. He started teaching himself photography while in high school, and is now a member of the Chinese Fine Art Photography Association. Working with a digital medium format camera and spending at least six months out of a year shooting in China and all over the world, Ye hones his craft of Eastern-style landscape photography. He has exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, and has won the Chinese Academy of Photography award, the highest award in the Chinese fine art photography field. 


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