Crying Landscape

2002

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

In Crying Landscape, Yang deploys the antique “blue-and-green” painting style on a grand scale to depict iconic man-made structures that connote political, industrial, or military power. The triptychs were first displayed at the 2003 Venice Biennale, where they were hung from the ceiling and accompanied by a soundtrack of Johan Strauss II’s The Blue Danube waltz punctuated by the sound of the artist’s screams. Arranged in the same order here, the sequence showcases the Houses of Parliament, an oil refinery, the great dam at the mouth of the Yangzi Gorges, the Pentagon under terrorist attack, and a Las Vegas simulacrum of New York. Yang, who witnessed the enormous suffering brought about by Mao’s utopian vision of socialism, here undermines the promise of stability, prosperity, and security symbolized by these iconic buildings.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

References

Title: Crying Landscape
Artist: Yang Jiechang (Chinese, born 1956)
Date: 2002
Culture: China
Medium: Set of five triptychs; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Image (each triptych): 9 ft. 10 1/8 in. × 16 ft. 4 7/8 in. (300 × 500 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Lent by a private collection, New York
Curatorial Department: Asian Art