Wonderful Beauty in Wonderful Life & Paintings and Music

Excerpt from “On the ‘Wonderful Life’, Keywords from Inside and Beyond the Paintings”

Mo ZHANG

“Beauty”

Those that have seen the exhibition may wonder: Is the Wonderful Life beautiful? Why don’t I think so? I even think the depicted characters are kind of ugly!

Although people may think of Lee Yang as someone who is rather romantic by nature and has a soft spot for lovey-dovey stories (I can attest to that he cries when watching romantic movies); however, this doesn’t mean that when he paints romantic stories he would necessary have to make the main characters look beautiful. The kind of beauty that is symbolically associated with paintings is generally different from conventional beauty, and Yang is, first and foremost, a painter, so it’s his prerogative to stand by his aesthetic standards as an artist. Therefore, if you were anticipating to see romantically beautiful or even softcore-porn-esque “refined goods”, sorry, you will probably be disappointed with this exhibition.

An art history buff would notice quite a bit of “appropriation” in Yang’s artworks. For incidence, there are a few figures which were derived from the works of French academic painters, such as William Bouguereau or Alexandre Cabanel, and there are also some hints of Manet, Velázquez, and Goya, as well as some interesting Rococo-inspired elements. Also, Yang’s works are, more or less, not so serious.

Those that are familiar with the Japanese manga series, Crayon Shin-chan, would understand why that kind of humor is unstoppable!

Is this collection a lament about the ephemerality of beauty, a critique on present-day life’s fleeting beauty, and was it created out of concern for the uncertainty that the future holds? I think these questions are up to the audience to interpret for themselves.

“Paintings and Music”

If you wish to better understand the emotions that Lee Yang is seeking to convey through his latest art, I recommend the music of a classic Mandopop singer, which you could play in your head as back ground music when you see his art. Perhaps with the music incorporated, a connection would spark in you.

I hereby present to you, Jonathan Lee.

Let the music roll.

※About the Author

Mo Zhang is a painter and an art critic. He holds a Fine Arts Diploma from École des Beaux-arts de Versailles and a M.A. in Art History from Paris-Sorbonne University.