On Melancholy Hill
Liang Manyong Solo Exhibition
2020.07.11 - 08.15

□ Wandering Back and Forth

Family
I  actually  paint  family-themed  works  every  year,  those  of  you  who  have  been  paying  attention  to  my  works  should  know  it,  but  there  are  some  unintentional  changes  in  new  works.  As  the  number  of  works  increases,  the  changes  just  came  along.  At  first,  my  theme  was  about  personal  space,  a  house,  a  person,  gradually  it  came  in  the  form  of  family  members.  From  two  people,  three  people,  evolved  into  a  family.  Our  birth  exists  in  the  form  of  a  family,  which  affects  the  path  of  growth.  Each  family  may  play  a  role  in  the  impact  you  have  had  when  interacting  with  different  people.  The  family  is  running  in  the  background  of  current  society,  many  things  are  somehow  related.  However,  when  creating  family  works,  I  don 't  think  much.  I  just  want  to  paint  some  feelings  about  this  combination  without  giving  too  much  to  express,  or  the  viewers  can  relate  their  own  stories  through  the  pictures.

Lie  down
Lying  down  is  a  state  of  rest,  or  it  can  be  a  state  of  exhaustion,  or  a  process  of  avoiding  and  calming  down.  I  would  often  draw  images  of  people  huddled  together,  and  later  on  I  began  to  draw  images  of  people  lying  down.  It  is  a  state  of  being  emotionally  liberated.  We  would  feel  tired  of  being  exposed  to  so  many  things.  Sometimes  we  just  want  to  lie  down  and  do  nothing.  In  the  chase,  perhaps  we  just  focus  on  enjoying  the  process  rather  than  the  result.  If  our  mind  were  less  complex,  it  might  be  simpler.

Manchester  Species
This  series  mainly  emerged  when  I  started  making  some  ceramic  works  in  2017.  Randomness  is  what  I  want.  The  dirt  can  be  moulded  into  any  fictitious  figures  at  will,  mostly  with  a  few  weird  heads.  Of  course,  a  house  must  be  made,  so  far  the  biggest  ceramic  work  is  the  house.  I  began  to  paint  these  ceramics  works  after  looking  at  them  for  a  while.  This  felt  quite  fun.  So  you  see  some  strange  images  on  the  canvas.  The  unknown  brings  new  pleasures.

Confusion  and  chaos
In  fact,  mixed  and  disorderly  crowd,  intertwining,  tearing,  lost  control,  which  is  also  an  extension  of  the  previous  works.  There  have  been  pictures  like  fighting  before,  but  there  is  no  intertwining.  Clutter  may  be  the  epitome  of  the  city,  the  network,  or  the  emergence  of  personal  psychology.  
On  melancholy  hill,  I  have  been  wandering  back  and  forth.  Since  there  is  no  end  and  no  beginning,  so  be  it.