Images by Alexander Burns

EVOLUTION — About the Survival and Growth of Underground Musicians in China
“There are so many people, events and subjects in the world that I wish to see through my camera lens. Among them, photographing and recording musicians have been my lifelong passion as doing so not only allows me to work closely with my friends but also satisfies my dream of one day becoming a musician myself. In the arena of art, filmmaking is my weapon of choice to express my inner self, photography is how I preserve those memories that I cherish the most, and documentary is the vault of aspiration and creativity that I will always hold close to my heart.”

— Yang Zhang

Evolution, a visual art exhibition featuring documentaries and photographs by Mr. Yang Zhang, a renowned director of documentaries about China’s underground music. In the Post-Revolutionary Era, a documentary that Yang filmed two decades ago, Yang captured every aspect of the underground music scene in a time where the society did not pay any attention to non-mainstream music genres. As an underground musician himself, Yang documented the survival and growth of his peers with passion throughout the past two decades. Yang’s documentaries have become synonymous to the passion of the young generation in China while they also serves as windows, through which people themselves can see the true nature of underground music. This exhibition features the premiere of Yang’s documentary China Youth Today, and the exhibition is Yang’s first solo exhibition in New York City, and the first time that his artworks go on display for audiences in the U.S.A.

The exhibition features two series of Yang’s visual artwork from two distinct periods of Yang’s career. Series A features the documentary Post-Revolutionary Era (produced between 1997 and 2002), as well as ten pieces of related photography artworks. Series B includes the documentary China Youth Today (produced between 2015 and 2017) and eleven pieces of related photography artworks.

Ning Gallery

Nov. 16 - Nov. 22, 10:00 am - 05:00 pm

Friday through Thursday

Address: 333 5th, # 4F, New York, NY 10016

For more information, click here.