Yahon Chang's 'The Question of Beings' at Macro Testaccio

Yahon Chang (born 1946, Shui-Li) presents 'The Question of Beings' at Macro Testaccio in Rome, curated by J. J. Shih and Francise Chang, running until August 28, 2016. The exhibition features site-specific works created over five days, including large ink-painted fabric draperies hung or laid out as an environmental installation. Chang's process involves a Zen-like dance performance, using brushes of various sizes to paint long cloth panels that conceal human faces within calligraphic strokes. The show also includes cylindrical iron sculptures whose untreated surfaces are wetted to accelerate natural decay, echoing themes of transience. The title references Chang's ongoing exploration of human existence, previously presented at the 56th Venice Biennale. Visitors are invited to walk through the painted drapes. Chang's work draws from Chinese literati ink painting (Wen-Ren-Hua) but departs from tradition by incorporating oils, acrylics, and canvas. His influences include tachisme (Jean Fautrier), CoBrA (Karel Appel, Pierre Alechinsky), Sam Francis, and Jackson Pollock, yet he rejects their pessimistic kitsch, Jungian collective unconscious, heroic individualism, and vertical painting supports, respectively. Instead, Chang emphasizes a collective 'we ask, therefore we are' over Cartesian individualism, and shares with Francis an interest in Zen philosophy. The exhibition space, a former slaughterhouse (Pelanda), adds historical resonance of horror, transience, and decay.