Yang Jiechang: Artists Continue To Try Hard
Dates: 16 October - 30 November 2025
Art Director: Wang Shaoqiang
Curator: Martina Köppel-Yang (GER)
Guangdong Museum of Art (BAIETAN)
Artists Continue To Try Hard is the title of a neon light created by Yang Jiechang for his solo exhibition in Shanghai in 2007. The neon light that is mirroring Yang's handwriting, with its concise and humorous style, addresses the passion and self-imposed demands of artistic creation and hints to the ever-changing power of art.Now, twenty years later, curator Martina Koeppel-Yang chooses this neon writing as the title of Yang's solo exhibition held at the Guangdong Museum of Art in October 2025.
While the exhibition includes representative works from different creative periods, it is not a retrospective, but rather a showcase of Yang Jiechang's understanding and approach to art, life and spirituality. Regardless of the medium he uses (calligraphy, painting or video), Yang's art is deeply inspired by the so-called "three layers of alum and nine layers of colour" - painting technique of Song Dynasty.
The exhibition thus proposes a glimpse into an artistic journey guided by the wish to look beyond the superficial layers of things.
