WHEEL ME OUT - Shu Yong

above: Shu Yong's Bubbles in the Office; background: detail from National Anthem

Based in Beijing and Guangzhou, Shu Yong's multimedia creations do everything from capturing his fascination with the idea and form of 'bubble', to involving thousands of people for an outdoor performance. Having garnered plenty of attention internationally, including a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2009 Florence Biennale, he tells Wheel why he considers China his laboratory, and just what keeps him coming back to bubbles.

By Cristiana Bedei

Shu Yong with his sculpture of
obese Arnold Schwarzenegger

You work with a wide variety of mediums. Is there one you feel more ‘yours’ than others? My art is mainly about speaking of and questioning social reality, so I actively use all kinds of mediums to speak and intervene, including those which are not art mediums.

But I believe media is an instrument of public communication, neither belonging to myself or others. If different mediums were limited to the personal, art would lose its power of expression. Resonance is a fundamental basis for expanding knowledge and social development.

The ‘bubble’ is one of the key concepts around which your art revolves. You have painted, photographed and sculpted bubbles. What is significant about them to you? In my viewpoint, ‘bubble’ is not just a specific symbol but also a concept. I have never tried to solidify any particular form in my art. The bubble in the colorful painting series Chinese Myth is not quite the same as in the Bubble Woman sculptures.

It seems to me that the whole world is a bubble; our reality is incessantly surrounded by various bubbles. The Earth’s shape is just one of numerous bubbles in the universe. I use various methods to deduce bubble, making it a totem in both conception and form. The evolution of ‘bubble’ during my art career is freewheeling and full of possibilities.

You have said that Chinese society is the laboratory for your art: how do you think your work is perceived in your country? In China there is a varied audience including professional critics who misunderstand my artwork. Many people feel absent-minded or angry after viewing my work, which has a pre-determined, double fraudulence both for the elite and common people.

During the series National Anthem, the number of participating people reached 15,000. Imagine the difficulties you face as well as the risks when gathering so many people together. The participants and I felt much pressure when something bad would happen, like someone suddenly feeling faint on the scene. Many of my artworks have come to an untimely end because of various hindrances.

As a Chinese artist where do you place yourself politically? I am somewhat of a parasite, absorbing all sorts of nutrition furiously in this giant country. In China, most of the time, our individual living style is the product of politics, while, conversely, politics is the most important individual life.

How do see your relation to Western culture? Western culture has always had an influence on Chinese contemporary art, especially in that the Western market directly determines its survival, which is extremely unfavorable for the development of Chinese art. I have been striving to avoid this effect. I haven’t built any steady European or American connections because I want to maintain the originality of my art. I am not afraid of being considered any type of artist; I understand and accept the fact that I am hard to define. WMO

Shu Yong's bubbles and other works on artnet

www.artnet.com