Same as traditional Chinese landscape painting; classic Chinese Garden pursues the poetic beauty of the nature. This aesthetics has evolved into an intrinsic tradition, and in the metropolitan culture, the cityscape, natural or manmade, is a cultural choice of nature and society. The sharp observation of the natural and the artificial embodies the spiritual return of urban people longing to escape the worry and isolation of modern society and go back to their real spiritual home. People indulge in daily lives, digging a spiritual world of rocks, bonsais and scenic spots; in addition, they uncover a neglected layer of meaning; a disharmony and a power related metaphor.

Feng Yan’s shots of “Rocks” first distort our sense of time and remind us of a photo album of 1970’s, or a park corner even earlier; or the surviving memory of an ancient Chinese water color landscape. Let’s take a look at “A White Car under a Pine Tree”: a pine tree, the symbol of dignity in traditional Chinese painting, in amplified juxtaposition with a technology product, what does that tell us? The peaceful coexistence between private life and public space? The agitating unrest? Or the loss of words resulting from failing to identify the pine tree in mind? Or maybe they are just the targets of peep and surveillance? Only when we are cornered to gaze at the juxtaposition of “Neon Classic” scenes and modern life, can we reestablish the true connection between the cultural elements and daily reality; and when the relation is magnified, it bites our nerves.

In “Corner Bonsai”, a huge amount of mini-bonsais used to cover the square during the National Day are cornered near a car passage which is an obscure bloody red due to the cars running over the red carpet. This is a showcase of the mimic or worship of power, and as soon as we learn this is a parking lot of a luxury restaurant, our imagination for implication is unleashed. The critical concept of these photos is fully demonstrated in the unique shot of “The VIP Room of Agricultural Museum” which is a subtle lively metaphor of power, lies and spiritual violence crouching around us.

In the space penetrating 7 photos, the “Rock Streaks” with magnified details and “A Man in the Ring Road Park” experiment with the photographic language and these 2 shots highlight the conception of this exhibition. The “detailed” rock marks on film may associate us with the ancient abstract water color landscape and this form, in line with all that power implication, is no longer a simple portrait, but rather an expression of demolition and reconstruction, just like the man in the park and the rock in the forest facing the lens calling for interaction and theatrical imagination among the 7 pieces, in addition to the humanity interpretation.

If Feng Yan were to probe, in the “Order” series, the distance between private and public space, this time in the “Rocks”, he directly patches classic images to daily life to create a neon classic scene. His latest “Power” shots are an extension of these 2 topics and it is about the abstract nature of painting in photography.

Auguest, 2006
( Translated by Cui Yang)