Yishu Journal's 2019 Issue Features Essays on Chinese Artists Integrating Language and Visual Art

The January/February 2019 edition of Yishu journal has been released, containing multiple essays and interviews focusing on contemporary Chinese artists who incorporate linguistic elements into their visual practices. In this issue, Yuling Zhong analyzes how five contemporary artists merge words and characters into various artistic forms to create hybrid models and expand potential meanings. Rebecca Catching provides an extensive examination of Chen Hangfeng's work, which addresses China's complex transition from the Cultural Revolution to capitalist tendencies over two decades, noting his use of humor despite serious themes. The publication includes several conversational texts: David Ho Yeung Chan interviews Morgan Wong about his investigations into temporality's impact on life, world events, and science; Tansy Xiao speaks with Cai Dongdong about his journey through photography, its metaphorical use as a weapon, and his shift to appropriating images and everyday objects; and John Tancock discusses with Wu Jian'an the importance of art to society and his defense of Chinese mythologies and traditional artisanal practices within contemporary art. Yang Tiange interviews Liu Ding about his curatorial practice and exhibition design approach, where Liu explains strategies for presenting artists' work that reflects expansive life experiences rather than linear narratives. Mostafa Heddaya examines the curatorial premises of a 2017 survey exhibition featuring Xing Danwen's work, identifying curator Tarek Abou El Fetouh's approach influenced by Jean Genet's writing and exploring concepts of 'dissociative sociability' and 'mirror effects' consistent in her twenty-five-year career. The issue also references Maya Kóvskaya's previous exploration of Xu Bing's work and its relationship to language and calligraphy's visuality in Yishu 89.