and Child,” an earlier series, captures a kind of celebration of human-
ity on superficial, which is to say structured (brick-like), grounds:152 Paul ManfrediAmidst satisfyingly arranged angles that recede in acute perspective there
emerges a mother and her child, whose very bond is as much a feature of
the built world as the buildings (and moon) that surround them. In this
view, the “Longing” series could well be, as its title suggests, a natural
product of the human imagination and poesis, the principal builder.
Yan’s urban images are also distinctively unspecific in terms of
national space or orientation. One is aware of the human condition in
juxtaposition to the fruits of its industry. There is, of course, a
discourse relating to environmental degradation specific to Chinese
economic expansion, but for an artist such as Yan Li, this is secondary.
Degradation is a shared operation, not unlike industry. Yan’s work
formalizes the ambivalence that stems from being both critic of the
processes that corrupt or erode our environment and also fully aware
of his own complicity in these processes. Beyond this, though, Yan
seems to completely erase the distinction between exhausting our
natural resources and exhausting our very selves, positing an9781403976079ts10.qxp:Layout 1 11/9/07 11:10 AM Page 152