Yu-Kun Yang

Yu-Kun Yang, who was born in 1934, is one of the few Chinese artists who lived and worked in Germany. He studied at an art school in Hong Kong, went to Berlin in 1957, and was one of Hann Trier’s pupils. It is difficult to say to what extent his paintings is Chinese, especially as Chinese artists now paint European pictures and European painters are strongly influenced by Chinese art. The artists know each other’s styles too well; and yet one notices that in the greatest talents the traditions of their homes are strongest.

Photographer: Benjamin Katz

Yu-Kun Yang after a hiatus in the late 70 and 80’s, Yang returned to the canvas when he moved to Southern California. His first exhibit in 20 years is at Huntington Beach Art Gallery. A reception will be held at the library to honor the local artist known for his unique blend of two art philosophies:

Eastern tradition and Western freedom of expression.

By Nancy Luna, Orange County Register, 20 April 1995

Photographer : Leske
Date : 15 November 1960
Location : Feuilleton

Study

Yu-Kun Yang is studying under an unprejudiced teacher who considers it his task to develop his pupil’s individuality. Yu-Kun Yang did not study a particular style of painting and if there is an occasional similarity between his pictures and those of his teacher it is because his artistic inclinations were always like Hann Trier’s. His own personality plays the most important role: his sense for his materials and handicraft, his feeling for the expressiveness of the different colours, the way he eschews external impressions to let loose the magic of the artistic means themselves, so that they give his pictures their form and their sense.

Photographer: Benjamin Katz

Method

Although his pictures are almost monochrome they contain different shades like Chinese wash drawings are not at all monotonous. One could not call them yellow unless one included all those colours which are nearly yellow – yellow so to speak as a common denominator of the pictures. This method seems more Asiatic than European but modern rather then traditional. It is a method that creates pictures consciously and creates pictures that are conscious of their creation- highly poetic pictures. Yu-Kun Yang has no direct intentions when he is painting, form comes of its own accord so that his work moves us like a message from a world that transcends our own.

Photographer: Benjamin Katz