Yibin Tian: Our New York
March 5-April 17, 2010
Docent Tour Free with museum admission: Every Saturday, 4pm
“Tian’s main concern is individual psychology operant in a collective society with an eye for the indomitable nature of the human spirit.” – Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos, from Yibin Tian:
All for One and One for All.
The Chelsea Art Museum, Home of the Miotte Foundation, is pleased to present Yibin Tian:Our New York.
Yibin Tian’s multi-media installation comprises C print photographs,
threedimensional sculptures, and video installation. Tian’s goal is to capture the effects that authoritarian Songun-ism (Military First) has on its
citizenry. Tian uses color film and casual observation as his methodologies.
Aside from his aesthetic contributions, Tian’s work holds relevance in its
timely cultural and social value especially given the recent political crisis
resulting from North Korean nuclear testing and Jongil Kim’s refusal to
cooperate with international disarmament policy.
Our New York by Yibin Tian (a.k.a. Lao Liu or Old Six)
is an installation that continues his last year’s series All
for One and One for All. His work is a result of being reared in a
totalitarian government in Bejing, China. This rigid environment provoked him
to explore the contrary lifestyle of individualism. Many of the works express
the North Korean Songun (military first) politics, yet simultaneously touch
upon democratic values as they combine western figures and ideas. Tian’s
photographs and sculptures of North Korean military authoritarianism (Songun)
where a nation is at the service of its leader Jong-Il Kim, are metaphors for
power. Juche is akin to a religious philosophy that espouses worship of a charismatic leader and is
informed by Confucianist values advocating the notion of filial piety and
familial hierarchy. While exhibiting the last series in New York the artist
enacted a pre-set visual dialogue between western and eastern militarism by
posing together North Korean officers juxtaposed against New York uniformed
policemen.
