Yan Pei-Ming’s ‘Landscape of Childhood’ By John Jay

The 798 art district of Beijing continues to amaze me. Even during the frenetic construction phase for the forthcoming first Beijing 798 Biennale, there is still enough provocation and stimulation to bring me back on consecutive days, despite the oppressive humidity.

One of the consistent must-sees of this ne plus ultra arts compound is the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), one of the first major nonprofit art centers in China, founded by Guy and Myriam Ullens. The UCCA is currently showing “Landscape of Childhood,” an exhibition featuring the work of Yan Pei-Ming, a painter who has born in Shanghai in 1960 and has lived in Dijon, France, since the 1980s.

His concern for social conflict and crisis fuels his incendiary ideas, igniting human emotions through monochromatic black and white images. “Landscape of Childhood” is a comment on the overlooked status of endangered children in China. It comprises 34 large flags printed with black and white portraits of such kids, along with some huge canvases mounted on the walls. Steel tubes powered by motors mounted on the ceiling blow wind down on each flag, giving the gallery the sound of an industrial tornado as you walk among the billowing portraits. The effect is of moving through a landscape in a mood of impending crisis. 

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