OCMA (Orange County Museum of Art)

Yang Yongliang’s practice is rooted in his deep respect and reverence for Chinese art history, specifically classical Chinese landscape paintings (​shan shui​). The landscapes in this school of thought are landscapes of the mind—contemplative compositions in which the Chinese ​literati (scholars/artists/court officials) would imbue their ideologies into images of nature. Yang grew up in Shanghai in an era of rapid urbanization and, while a student of tradition, he also embraced new media to make sense of the changing world around him. This exhibition includes film, video, photography, and a virtual reality. It takes its name from Yang’s seminal virtual reality work ​Eternal Landscape (2017), in which he mastered new technologies to “paint” a Song Dynasty ​shan shui l​andscape, furthering his exploration of the interconnectedness between tradition and modernity.