We recently connected with Yang Sun and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Yang, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
I must said that I am a very luck person，my parents love me unreservedly, and I have many very good friends around me，and I have many sweet friends around me. This time the first thing that came to my mind was the help that one of my best friends had given me.
He is one of my best friends. We have known each other for more than 10 years. He has always encouraged me in my daily life. When I felt confused as an artist, he often told me that he thought I was smart and talented and that I needed to wait for my chance quietly without anxiety or too much eagerness.
Like just two mounths ago, he discovered that I love watching Youtube videos, and he encouraged me by saying why can’t you create your own channel? You usually like reading books, you can share your ideas from reading books with your drawings on the platform. So he helped me buy a lot of equipment, accompanied me to change my computer, taught me how to edit, he said that he thought I would be successful, so he wanted to support me. In fact, it is not only this one thing, any decision I make he is as always supportive, he always comforts me when I am tired, but also gives me strength when I am confused.
I think with such good friends, no matter whether I can succeed or not, I feel that I have no regrets about doing anything.
Yang, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Most of my works come from my feelings about the world around me, specifically, my unease about the irregular changes in the world. This is why I also really like the Chinese poet Munk’s poem, amongst which there is one said “Fate, where will you take me? I’m preoccupied. ‘ My whole practice is about this kind of feeling, and I sometimes look for it in books, movies and documentaries that I’ve seen, to find sentences and stories that resonate with me, and turn them into paintings. I was born and grew up in a city full of industrial atmosphere, full of dilapidated factories. The way I feel and see the changes in the world may never escape out of that homeland in my heart. I think this is something unique to me, which makes me different from others.
I still want to work hard to be an artist today. I think it’s not always easy, which has the main reason in myself. I often feel I’m disappointed with painting the world, and the world is also disappointed with me. In such thinking, I was often halted to create things for a long time. But every now and then, I tried to learn accepting all of it, recognising the fact that every confusion is part of growing up, and then I continued to paint.
In my whole life as a painter, I think the most important thing I have learned is to accept myself, my mediocrity, my mistakes and my desires. Only by learning to face myself calmly, can I face art and my life calmly.
As the most genuine of the feelings I have, I want to let the world know that art is fake, painting is fake, but the emotions and connections we feel from art are real, and that’s what’s fascinating about art.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I would have said Carlo Lovlli’s book The Order of Time, and before that, I’d only read books about contemporary art or painting, the book was recommended to me by my friend, is a book attempt to explain time in terms of physics and philosophy.
This book allows me to understand time from a new perspective, let me know that the author thinks “time” exists objectively, but it is not the “time” we understand. There are many very deep viewpoints in the book, such as, there is no “here and now” in the world, because everyone’s time is slightly different. The complexity of our time comes from different approximations of various properties.
But what impressed me the most was the author’s attitude towards death. He said he was not afraid of death, but of suffering, of old age, of being vulnerable and of not being loved. But now that he was in his sixties, he had learned that life was a matter of suffering and gain as well as enjoyment and pleasure, and he said that if an angel came to him now and said, “It’s time, Carlo,” he would smile and go with her.
Because I share the same fears with the author, sometimes these fears become my shackles and my anxiety. After reading the author’s heartfelt words on the understanding of death, I felt relaxed and reduced my anxiety in life. I think this book has played a great role in my life plan of becoming an artist without distractions.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
As a painter, I think the best thing society can do for painters is to help the new generation of painters gain exposure. At the same time, as a painter myself, I sometimes find it difficult to find organizations where artists can come together and talk about their work, and this only happens when I go to some exhibitions.
I think giving artists in the community space and opportunities to communicate with each other is also a very good way to broaden artists’ creativity. Of course, we can all rely on emails or online videos to communicate our ideas, but I think sometimes face-to-face communication is important, and only in these times can some unexpected sparks burst out.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yangsunartworks.com
- Instagram: rubyyysun
- Twitter: RubySun
- Weibo: Ruby宝贝的宝贝