Artwork Description

Title:Mountains are Fake

Artist
Zhan Yang

Date
2008

Medium:
Oil on canvas

Dimensions
70.9 x 98.4 in (180 x 250 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Mountains are Fake (2008) is a monumental oil on canvas by Zhan Yang, a Chinese contemporary artist renowned for his boundary-pushing visual language. The painting features a chaotic interplay of greyscale brushstrokes forming a tumultuous mountainous form, overlaid with vibrant, dripping dots of fluorescent color—orange, green, pink, blue, and yellow. These energetic splashes appear to descend from above, undermining the solidity of the supposed mountain form beneath. The juxtaposition of layered realism and vibrant abstraction results in a confrontational yet visually arresting piece that questions perception and material illusion.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Zhan Yang’s work sits at the intersection of expressive abstraction and conceptual deconstruction. In Mountains are Fake, the artist invokes the traditional Chinese landscape idiom only to dismantle it—layering gestural disruption and pop-inflected chromatics over the ink-wash-inspired understructure. The fluorescent pigment recalls both Western Action Painting and contemporary street art, while the underlying monochromatic form alludes to the ink paintings of the Song and Yuan dynasties. This bold combination challenges authenticity and authority in representation, gesturing toward the artificiality of contemporary visual culture.

3. Historical Context
Created in 2008, this work emerged during a period of growing global attention toward Chinese contemporary art, marked by post-Olympics cultural shifts and the flourishing of experimental aesthetics in China’s art scenes. Zhan Yang’s painting can be read as a direct response to the commodification of tradition and the media spectacle of cultural identity. By playfully asserting that "mountains are fake," he interrogates both inherited aesthetics and their consumption in the global art market. The work resonates within the broader discourse on authenticity, simulation, and postmodern narrative in East Asian art.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The canvas is taut and well-preserved, and the paint surface retains its vivid pigmentation and impasto textures. No evidence of damage, restoration, or structural compromise has been observed.

6. Artistic Significance
Mountains are Fake stands as a seminal expression of Zhan Yang’s provocative engagement with visual tradition and contemporary critique. A blend of irreverence and rigor, the work captures the artist’s unique ability to reconcile conceptual inquiry with expressive form. Yang’s growing influence in both China and Germany, and his cross-disciplinary contributions to ceramics and contemporary craft, position him as a vital figure in the ongoing dialogue between innovation and heritage. This piece, both monumental in scale and significance, is a highlight for collectors of avant-garde Chinese painting.