COMA is pleased to present a solo presentation, titled Āśrava World, by Shanghai-based new media artist Lu Yang, on view 21 May – 3 July, 2021 in the gallery.
The term Āśrava, used in Buddhist scripture, philosophy, and psychology, refers to mental defilements of sensual pleasures that perpetuate samsara, the beginningless cycle of rebirth, dukkha, and dying again. This exhibition takes two of Lu Yang’s interconnected videos created between 2018 – 2020, “Material World Knight” and “The Great Adventure of Material World” – presented here as an interactive video game and film – as the main thread of narrative. Āśrava World is a comprehensive presentation of the artist’s simultaneous inward facing analysis of self and their outward searching dialogue, centred on ultimate
unsolved propositions such as the world, existence, binary opposition, sexuality, the end of time and samsara, through virtual scenes and locales rendered by software.
Everything in this material world inevitably follows the natural principles of Cheng, Zhu, Huai and Kong. In Buddhist teachings, there are the four states of phenomena in the principle of physics: formation, existence, destruction and emptiness. Incorporating multiple characters from many of Lu Yang’s past bodies of work, the exhibition attempts to create a unique and integrated worldview that is displayed in custom-made lightboxes, aluminum cutout characters, digital screen installations and the use of supporting lights.
Acting as a small-scale retrospective of sorts, Lu Yang’s Āśrava World takes the viewer from the forming of the Material World Knight character in the 3 channel artwork title of the same name, through to the playable adventure that the character experiences. The works in the exhibition span three years and address various topics prevalent in the artists work across this period.
Originally from Lu Yang’s earlier work UterusMan (2013), and also featured in the artist’s recent video The Great Adventure of Material World (2019-2020) in which UterusMan acts as one of the companions to the Material World Knight through several stages, the work UterusMan reflects Lu Yang’s earlier exploration of the themes of death, disease, genetics and biomechanics.
I use an avatar of myself because I cannot do harm to another…I think artists throughout history have used their own image so they can mutilate it without guilt. One aspect of Buddhism is to understand that you’re eventually going to die, so you need to process that death. Once you have done that, you can give up the “me” or the “I” idea and move forward.
Lu Yang explains pain as a perceptual scenario in the article ‘Mortality in the digital age: the many deaths of Lu Yang’, Art Basel, 2019, written by Penny Rafferty
The character Material World Knight draws together content featured in two consecutive and distinctive video works made by Lu Yang in recent years. In this new wall-mounted lightbox Material World Knight – Vajra #1 (2021), the Material World Knight sits like a deity waiting to be worshipped in a digital temple of sorts. Vajra, the omnipotent weapon capable of removing all ties to materiality and distracting thoughts – floats above the characters hands.
One of the two new lightboxes Delusional World – Bardo #1 (2021) is derived from a scene in the artist’s The Great Adventure Of Material World (2019-2020). Its title and the immersive rendered environment describe Bardo as an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth, in some schools of Buddhism.
Four deities from Lu Yang’s previous video Electromagnetic Brainology (2017-2018) have been fabricated as aluminium wall-mounted cutout displays. Referencing both Hinduism and Buddhism, the concept of the world’s composition by the four great elements: earth, water, fire and air, is embodied by these figures. Buddhist teachings also describe the near death of a human as the dissolution of these elements. First the earth element sinks into the water element, and then the water element sinks into the fire, and fire into the air, until the air element dissolves, leading to the ultimate death.
Deeply immersed in the subcultures of anime, video games, and ScienceFiction, the output of Lu Yang’s artistic practice spans 3D-animated films, video game installations, holograms, neon, VR and software manipulation, often with overt Japanese manga and anime references.
Lu Yang graduated with a BA and MA from the New Media Art department of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou. His work has been featured in exhibitions internationally including recent solo exhibitions, Delusional Mandala, Fotografiska, Stockholm, 2019; The Game World of Material World Knight, CC Foundation & Art Center, Shanghai, 2019; Cyber Altar, Art Basel Hong Kong, with Société, Berlin, 2019; Electromagnetic Brainology, Spiral, Tokyo, Japan; Lu Yang: Encephalon Heaven, M WOODS, Beijing, 2017; Delusional Mandala,MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, 2017, etc. Recent works in major group exhibitions at the Kulturforum, Berlin; UCCA, Beijing; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; 56th Venice Biennale 2015 China Pavillion; Liverpool Biennial 2016; Shanghai Biennale 2018 & 2012; Montreal International Digital Art Biennial 2016, etc. Lu Yang was announced as BMW Art Journey awardee during Art Basel in Basel in 2019.
Lu Yang
Material World Knight - Vajra #1, 2021
24V LED illuminated, high resolution fabric print, silver oxidized aluminum frame, separate external LED driver
140 x 140 x 6 cm / 55 1/8 x 55 1/8 x 2 3/8 inches
Lu Yang
Material World Knight - MOE #1, 2021
high resolution matte laminated print on solid aluminium, router cut edges, 2 x L corner aluminium stands
180 x 135 x 0.3 cm (stand: 145 x 20 x 40 cm) / 70 7/8 x 53 3/16 x 1/8 inches (stand: 57 1/16 x 7 7/8 x 15 3/4 cm)
Lu Yang
Electromagnetic Brainology - Earth #2, 2021
high resolution matte laminated print on solid aluminium, router cut edges, glued aluminium split batten
101 x 67 x 0.3 cm / 39 13/16 x 26 3/8 x 1/8 inches
Lu Yang
Electromagnetic Brainology - Fire #2, 2021
high resolution matte laminated print on solid aluminium, router cut edges, glued aluminium split batten
117 x 55 x 0.3 cm / 46 1/16 x 21 11/16 x 1/8 inches
Lu Yang
UterusMan - Unlimited Fight, 2021
high resolution matte laminated print on solid aluminium, router cut edges, glued aluminium split batten
130 x 86 x 0.3 cm / 51 3/16 x 33 7/8 x 1/8 inches
Lu Yang
Material World Knight, 2018
3 channel HD digital video, edition 3 of 6
22 min, 15 sec.
Lu Yang
Delusional World - Bardo #1, 2021
24V LED illuminated, high resolution fabric print, silver oxidized aluminum frame, separate external LED driver
100 x 120 x 6 cm / 39 3/8 x 47 1/4 x 2 3/8 inches
Lu Yang
Brain Control Messenger - Welcome To Heaven #1, 2021
high resolution matte laminated print on solid aluminium, router cut edges, 2 x L corner aluminium stands
130 x 52 x 0.3 cm (stand: 82 x 20 x 40 cm) / 51 3/16 x 20 7/16 x 1/8 inches (stand: 32 5/16 x 7 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches)
Lu Yang
Electromagnetic Brainology - Air #2, 2021
high resolution matte laminated print on solid aluminium, router cut edges, glued aluminium split batten
109 x 89 x 0.3 cm / 42 15/16 x 35 1/16 x 1/8 inches
Lu Yang
Electromagnetic Brainology - Water #2 , 2021
high resolution matte laminated print on solid aluminium, router cut edges, glued aluminium split batten
116 x 49 x 0.3 cm / 45 11/16 x 19 5/16 x 1/8 inches
Lu Yang
The Great Adventure Of Material World - Game, 2019
single-player role-playing computer game, edition 2 of 6
durational experience
Lu Yang
The Great Adventure of Material World - Game Film, 2020
single channel HD digital video, edition 1 of 6
26 min, 22 sec.
