COMA is pleased to present a solo presentation, titled Āśrava World, by Shanghai-based new media artist Lu Yang, on view 21 May – 26 June, 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.
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
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 3 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.
