3-channel 4K Video, 9’50’’, 2017

Journey to the Dark is Yang Yongliang’s first multi-channel 4K video. It unveils a surrealistic urban night scene that merges into infinite galaxy; the artificial and the nature converges by the skyline, and they co-exist in a peculiar harmony. Along with a technical upgrade onto 3-channl 4K, the two-dimensional video achieves a tremendous scale that allows an immersive visual experience.

Yang Yongliang uses images of architecture as brushstrokes; heavy mountain rocks with enriched details draw a faithful reference to Song Dynasty landscape painting. Urban development makes life in the city flourish, but it also imprisons these lives; centuries-old cultural tradition in China is profound, but it has also remained stagnant. Ancient Chinese people painted landscapes to praise the greatness of nature; Yang's works, on the other hand, lead towards a critical re-thinking of contemporary reality.