He Yida: Right Misplacement

A+ Contemporary presents the opening of artist He Yida’s solo exhibition “Right Misplacement” on October 29th, 2016. The exhibition is on view through December 11th.

He Yida’s artistic practice focuses primarily on sculptural installation, and its creative process is often brimming with chance and possibilities: unexpectedly found readymades are integrated with purposely created artwork into one, and the clash between established plans and sudden revelation has transcended the signification of the appropriation and transformation process of the readymades beyond the objects’ own sculpturality. Whether it be through the perspectives of sculptural dialogue or aesthetics appreciation, these objects collectively represent a form of “anti-monumentality”, which crumbles the notion of immortality as symbolized by the monument-esque mass and volume, as well as topples the social order, political criterion and the signified authoritative power as cemented by traditional monuments; these all reflect He Yida’s reservation towards macroscopic narratives and a preference for the “insignificant” while revealing clues that lead from certainty towards a path filled with possibilities.

The exhibition title “Right Misplacement” recreates the “awkward” situation that is manipulated in He Yida’s works: common objects are detached from their original context to enter the discourse of the white cube, wherein they surrender their everyday significance and ability to suggest and connote; on the other hand, readymades have disintegrated the aura of contemporary art with their distinct traits of commonality and worldliness, and the dissipation of the distance innate to aesthetics appreciation enables viewers’ imagination as triggered by the artworks to be transformed into an intuitive response. Ultimately, the misplaced objects have established a relationship with their supporting structures and the space they occupy, so as to be corrected and thereby attain rebirth in the artist’s reconstructed context. The exhibiting works represent a conclusion of He Yida’s artistic practices for the past two years; within the framework of the presentation of the relationships among objects as well as between object and space, the works explore the relationship between cube and plane, between display and representation, and between the aestheticization and the aesthetics of everyday life, even delving into questions regarding the origin of art.

The materials that seemingly bear the influence of Arte Povera have an innate appearance of defect that feels specious and even incomplete, and the experimental spirit projected, while foolish yet bold, questions contemporary values, structures and cognitive systems. To deny and emerge atop the notion of “aura” as proposed by Walter Benjamin is the artist’s pursuit of the ultimate value of human sensibility and emancipation. The objects of varied sources and production methods have dismantled the boundaries among materials, realizing He Yida’s incessant exploration into the overlapped fields between elite and plebeian cultures, and between the purported high-end and its confrontation in the realms of materials and aesthetics.