China News Agency, Beijing, August 9th, title: Yang Yi, an artist living in New Zealand: an oriental "poet" carved out of steel
China News Agency reporter Zeng Xiaowei
32-year-old artist Yang Yi currently lives in New Zealand.
From the "Transformers" series to "Drunk Jackie Chan" to "Sheriff Allen", insiders say that in Yang Yi's works, one can always feel "hormones and a sense of power".
Yang Yi was born in Shiyan, Hubei, and his parents both worked in the Second Automobile Factory.
Yang Yi said that his childhood was spent in his father's auto parts warehouse, and those parts were his toys.
In 2008, 18-year-old Yang Yi made a 2-meter-high Transformers sculpture with foam.
At that time, a friend visited and uploaded a photo of the sculpture to the Internet, and it went viral.
"At that time, the movie theater in Beijing R&F Plaza was showing "Transformers", they asked me if I could put this work on display at the entrance of the movie theater, and gave me 50 free movie tickets, and then I invited my classmates and friends to watch the movie already."
Friends around Yang Yi asked him if he really wanted to make a 1:1 Transformer out of auto parts.
He decided to give it a shot, and that's when the idea of making sculptures out of scrap car parts took off.
In 2010, the world's first 1:1 Transformers-themed sculpture "Yuanshen King Kong" was exhibited at Beijing Bird's Nest Stadium.
After a 5-month production cycle, Yang Yi showed his youth and passion to the world.
In 2014, invited by Jackie Chan, Yang Yi made a sculpture "Drunken Jackie Chan" for his 60th birthday and 50th anniversary of his career.
"When I decided to cooperate with Big Brother Jackie Chan to complete this sculpture, I was hesitant and self-doubt at first. Big Brother Jackie Chan has a special place in my heart since I was a child. I'm afraid I can't do it well." Films, biographies, interviews, and slowly the creative ideas of the works come to mind.
The final "Drunk Jackie Chan" is inspired by Jackie Chan's famous movie "Drunk Fist". The front view of the sculpture is the image of Jackie Chan wielding a drunk fist in the movie, and the side view is a hovering flying dragon.
In order to complete this giant sculpture, Yang Yi took two and a half years to conceive, used three or four tons of discarded parts, and made it for three months.
In 2017, Yang Yi's work "Sheriff Allen" was permanently completed at Gibbs Farm, the world's largest private sculpture park.
After 3 years of thinking and design, and 8 months of production, this work is 4 meters high and weighs 2.4 tons.
The Gibbs Farm is home to the work of many world-class sculptors.
At the age of 27, Yang Yi was the youngest artist.
"I benefited from this work. This collection really brought me to the international stage and let everyone know my name." Yang Yi said.
In 2022, Yang Yi's latest sculpture series "We Are One" will officially meet the audience in New Zealand.
As visitors approach the group of sculptures, they will see their own reflections in the reflections of the stainless steel and establish a connection with it.
"This is the series of works that I am most satisfied with so far. I started by imitating Western culture, and now I have integrated the dual cultural background of the East and the West into it, which has really formed my personal style." Yang Yi said.
"We Are One is where man and nature, history and culture, time and space, east and west, New Zealand and me meet," he said. "This monumental group of sculptures is not dedicated to someone, It's for everyone who loves New Zealand." It is reported that the creation process of the series is more than 10 years old and continues.
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