Exclusive interview

Exclusive interview｜Contemporary sculpture artist Yang Hao: The life of sculpture is about thinking and practice

 Yang Hao, sculpture artist and entrepreneur, was born in Zhengzhou in June 1975. He graduated from the Sculpture Department of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. After graduation, he was hired to teach in the Sculpture Department of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts. In 2011, he established Shaanxi Runsen Environmental Art Design Engineering Co., Ltd. , Xi'an Yidiange Cultural Creativity Co., Ltd.

His creations face the original thinking of the spiritual will of groups in different regions, and he makes unremitting efforts to integrate sculpture art into people's lives. In the repeated collision of art and technology, works and products, we are looking for the perfect fit. He deeply explores ancient Chinese myths, traditional heritage, folk intangible cultural heritage, etc., and is committed to the development and innovation of new folk customs. His sculptures always dialogue with the surrounding time and space, history, and the future in some way, trying to connect people's hearts.

Today, let’s take an in-depth look at sculpture artist Yang Hao’s vivid practice of recording the changes of the times and conveying upward power through sculpture.

Love can withstand the long years, hard work makes everyone humble

Reporter: I just visited your studio and saw a large number of works. I strongly felt that the difference between you and other artists is that your works have obvious periodization. Works from different periods have different distinctive characteristics. Do you agree with this?

Yang Hao: Yes, I strongly agree with this. This may be related to my work experience. From 2001 to 2011, I was employed as a teacher in the Sculpture Department of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts. During this period, the school expanded its enrollment and the teaching tasks were very heavy. My related art work mainly consisted of completing the school's designated project tasks and assisting the sculpture master. Of course, there were also some personal creations during this period. The main works of this period are: as an assistant to Professor Li Shouren and Professor Jia Zhuofei, participating in the production of the relief sculpture "Qin Unification" in the Beijing Military Museum, completing the sculpture project of the North Square and Pedestrian Street of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (picture), and participating as an assistant to Professor Chen Yungang Wanxi Pharmaceutical's "Zhang Zhongjing" statue (picture), "Famous Doctors of the Past" relief column, Henan Zhengdong New District's "Yu Fengxing" themed sculpture, Changzhou's "Su Dongpo" statue and other sculpture projects, independently completed the relief design of the gate of Chang'an Campus of Xi'an International Studies University, Jin Wei Beer Xi'an and Chengdu Co., Ltd. exhibition hall artwork design and production project. After 2011, I established Shaanxi Runsen Environmental Art Design Engineering Co., Ltd. From then on, I began to concentrate on the creation and production of urban sculptures. Some of the works during this period include: the large-scale main sculpture and relief "Petroleum Soul" project of Qingyang Petrochemical Company in Gansu Province, and the sculpture "Water Cube-Summer" in Dongying, Shandong Province (picture) , Sinopec Southwest Oil and Gas Field Relief "The Rise of Sichuan Oil", Sichuan Drilling and Mining Institute's "32111 Memorial Relief" (picture), Shanghai Jing'an Temple "Four Heavenly Kings", Xi'an Railway Bureau's "New Silk Road Origin" logo sculpture (picture), etc. In 2017, the company introduced the "emerging casting" process and made a lot of improvements to the process for art processing to support the company's transformation into metal art. During this period, my works were more art-oriented. The main works include Taotie Yuanbao series, Qin people's landscape series, Door God General jar, etc.

Reporter: I noticed that you mentioned that the company introduced the "flood casting" technology in 2017. Is it you who is in charge of the technical improvement work?

Yang Hao: Yes, all technical improvements are completed by me and the technical team.

Reporter: As far as I know, art is a liberal arts subject, while this technology is a science subject, leaning towards chemistry. There is a big gap between the two. What experiences have made you good at both art and science?

Yang Hao: Maybe this is an arrangement somewhere. Influenced by my family, I have always been good at and loved science since I was a child, and my direction never wavered until high school. However, a "bet" in the second semester of my second year of high school brought me into contact with art, especially sculpture. It was out of control, and I suddenly found my direction. After weeks of inner struggle, I decided to study sculpture. Of course, it still took a lot of time to convince the family.

Reporter: This is indeed an unusual experience, but it has created a sculptor who is good at science. As a sculptor, you opened a factory for casting. Has this experience brought any difference to your work?

Yang Hao: As a sculptor, I have some obsessive-compulsive disorder. I hope that my works can have the most perfect presentation. However, the reality is not satisfactory. The works cast by traditional methods are always not satisfactory. This is also my original purpose of building this factory. However, good casting effects will inevitably bring about a certain increase in costs. Therefore, in terms of casting, we mainly undertake projects that have extremely high requirements for the works and cannot be achieved by other processes, such as: "Father" by Luo Zhongli (picture), "Lion" of Ningyuan Group (picture), etc. However, the slightly higher cost price is still not very friendly to projects with low requirements. Through long-term research and exploration, we finally found the perfect fit, which is exquisite high-end metal art. As you have just seen, the "Statue of Manjusri Bodhisattva", "Statue of Samantabhadra Transformation", "Nirvana Picture", etc., and of course the "Taotie" series, "General" series, etc. We produce works that meet the requirements and have been widely recognized by the industry. Now it seems that this is the right path.

Life is sculpture. Sculpture contains thoughts and practices.

Reporter: You have been engaged in artistic creation for many years. Based on your experience, please talk about the relationship between art and life?

Yang Hao: In my opinion, artistic creation and life cannot be separated, and they are even a unity. I prefer to experience and observe life, and focus on finding inspiration, discovering art and outputting it into works in life. In this regard, the one that better reflects the relationship between art and life is "General" (picture). This work is derived from my life experience. Due to the geographical relationship, I often travel between the Qinling Mountains. I have seen the mornings, evenings and late nights of the Qinling Mountains countless times, and experienced the four seasons of the Qinling Mountains countless times. During the trips back and forth, my thoughts emerged - gestation The honest, stubborn, and extremely resilient character of the old Qin people, isn't it the tall, towering, thick, and endless Qinling Mountains? I love to travel. I have seen the beautiful scenery of Guilin, the stretches of southeastern hills, and the chopping and cutting of the Taihang Mountains. When I saw the Qinling Mountains, I saw ancient and towering giants. The old Qin people came out of the depths of the Western Qinling Mountains. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Qin State unified the six countries and established the first feudal dynasty in Chinese history. It won the eternal name of the Qinling Mountains for its great cause of unification. For thousands of years, it has stood on the dividing line between north and south, witnessing the changes and development of China. This work is based on a depiction of a Qin general and is integrated into the majestic Qinling Mountains. It depicts the perseverance and tolerance of the old Qin people, and also expresses the inheritance of the "Qin people's spirit", which stands as strong as the Qinling Mountains.

Accumulate new folk customs and build a new era of meritorious service

Reporter: Your work "Taotie·Yuanbao" has been widely praised by the industry and unanimously praised by collectors. Taking this work as a representative, can you tell us about the ideas and ideas for the work?

Yang Hao: The "Taotie" (pictures) series and the "Door God" series are my explorations of new folk customs. Folk customs have not been abandoned by civilized society after thousands of years, and there is some inevitable truth in this. At present, reason is gradually replacing the position of divinity, and science is reconstructing a set of survival rules. Even if reason can evolve us into calm passers-by, it cannot retain the once ignorant passion. Even though science has explained the passing of the past and refined the present existence, the future is still like the moon and flowers in the water that seem real and illusory. Good expectations for the future build a solid support for folk customs. Contemporary folklore must have contemporary carriers and forms. This is my focus and exploration.

Reporter: Can you tell us what new attempts you will make in the field of sculpture?

Yang Hao: "General" is originally an attempt in the series of works. Next, we will explore and invest in the series and continue to express our love for landscapes. The "Taotie" series of works has been relatively complete planned. "Yuanbao" is the basic prototype, "Budao" is nearing completion, and others are also in progress. This series of works expresses my reverence and worship for the essence and legacy of Eastern civilization through the participation of the works.