—

“For A Bigger Picture”

/ Luo Yongjin

Luo Yongjin

He is a photographer, born in the 1960s, graduated from Luoyang PLA Foreign Language University in 1982, and then studied at the oil painting department of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. In 1991, he received his MA at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. He later taught photography at the Shanghai Institute of Design, China Academy of Fine Arts. Working in Beijing, Shanghai, Luoyang, Guangdong and other places. Luo Yongjin has always photographed architecture as his main subject. His unforgettable works, whether single or stitched, document the rapid changes in China. For more than ten years, he has established his position in contemporary art mainly by expressing different types of architecture, such as "New Residence", "New Yamen", "Gas Station", "City View" and other series. These works constructed a reliable visual connection between reality and images. His observation itself... The interpretation and writing of these images thus serve as examples of cultural reflection on this era.

—

Some people believe that the photographer's ability is to transform the fleeting mundane of daily life into immortal visual images. As a photographer, Luo Yongjin uses personal symbolic expression techniques to construct various pictures under image layering and splicing.

In his early days, photography was rare in China. Later, when he went to The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts for further study, the camera became a necessity for him. He often took photos with classmates on the street, and all the scenery on the road was the subject of his lens. He began to learn photography deliberately, also avoided repeating others to find himself in the image.

When he studied in Zhejiang University, he read many picture albums and learned about the possibilities of visual expression. His photographic creation started from documentary, and gradually expressed his own ideas consciously instead of limited to recording, then developed into the pursuit of light and shadow effects. The New Residence series was created in the new dwellings springing up around the ancient city of Luoyang.

He once mentioned: "These new houses are simple and crude, but I focus more on visuals, on form, line and texture. My approach emphasizes the hidden rather than the surface. What these dwellings represent is change, and the change of times has created these buildings. The appearance of Luoyang has changed in a few years. The historical associations of the old capital are passed away, and the new dwellings reflect the mentality of the new landowners and owners: what they chase and what they ignore."

He spared no efforts to find the shooting spot, tried various shooting methods, chose post-production and exhibition methods, then realized the appropriate way of expression.

His photographic works focus more on the dialogue between images and people, also he considers how to properly express the emotions of images. "Mosaic" photographs became his expression, conveying the picture by combining the outline of the picture with distant and close shots.

He used the same shooting angle to decompose the image with layered and segmented shooting techniques, and then reassembled the fragment image and reconstructed the new image of the original image, which is one of his common photographic creation techniques. He constructed a new meaning through the splicing of images, combining the real record of the real world with traditional works of art. If you take a look at his "Mosaic" works, you will find that except for his photographic skills, he also incorporates elements of printmaking, Chinese painting and sculpture.

Nowadays he focuses not only on architecture, but also on the natural landscape -- Mount Song. This series of works follow his personal symbolic expression technique, which is triggered by his residence in Mount Song in recent years. After the selection and reproduction of the lens, the stone hides the analysis and thinking related to time. He views and explores the nature and culture of Mount Song from a personal perspective, conveying the artistic rigor seemingly at random.

Luo Yongjin, "Song Sugou", 2017， Ultragiclee, Variable size.（View Horizontally.）

The peculiar mountain and 3.6billion years of geological history have endowed the "Sky Zhongshan" (Tang Yan Zhenqing calligraphic tablet inscriptions in front of Huishan Temple) on the central plains an outstanding and powerful aura. He is one of the artists who are attracted to the local culture to incubate and create through resident programs. He took the mountain rock as the subject, identified and searched for the pulse condition of Mount Song by means of partial deconstruction and overall reconstruction, so as to express the picture with the image language.

Luo Yongjin, an Artist, has applied the "Mosaic" stitching method to many subjects. He not only uses this concept to a wider range of urban scenes, but also to the natural landscape, combining with the painting effect, leaving the audience a more diversified viewing experience.

—

Luo Yongjin‘s solo exhibition

2019
New Residence, North Bank, Luoyang

2017
Vision, Pan View Gallery, Zhengzhou
Songshan Mountain, OFOTO Gallery, Shanghai

2016
Luo Yongjin Photography Exhibition,Shanhai
Luo Yongjin Photography Exhibition, Gucang Contemporary Photo Gallery, Lanzhou
Wall, OCAT Art Museum, Xi’an
A Place Far Away, AKI Gallery，Taipei

2015
Black, White, Grey, Mo Art Space, Henan
Black, White, Grey, OFOTO Gallery, Shanghai

2013
Heart Steps, OFOTO Gallery, Shanghai
Collection from OCAT Shenzhen

2011
Artists’ Belongings, OFOTO Gallery, Shanghai
Artists’ Belongings, Art Museum of Xian Art Academy, Xi’an

2010
Extraordinary·Ordinary, OFOTO Gallery, Shanghai
Plight Shines into the Realiy, Auto Art Center, Xiamen

2009
Extraordinary·Ordinary, Fei Gallery, Guangzhou
Luo Yongjin Photography Exhibition, Timezone 8 Bookstore, 798 Art District, Beijing

2008
Renovation, Zhangjiang Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai
Luo Yongjin Photography Exhibition, Hexiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen

2007
Moving Closer，曼谷大学画廊，泰国

2006
View Points, Allsopp Contemporary, London, UK
Luo Yongjin Photography Exhibition, Eidos, Barsano, Italy
About Face, Artsea, Shanghai

2005
Faces in Time, Sala del Granaio, Grimaldi Foundation, Modica (RG), Italy

2004
Luo Yongjin Photography Exhibition, Photography Gallery of Art College, Seoul, Korea
Luo Yongjin Solo Exhibition, Year of Chinese Culture, Central Lille, France
Luo Yongjin Photography Exhibition, La Galerie Photoeil, Fabrezan, France

2003
Are We Dreaming? Tonson Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

2002
Faces in Time, Photographic Gallery L. Ghirri, Corte Capitaniale, Caltagirone, Italy

1999
Fixed Transience, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai

1996
Celebrations and Celebrities, CIFA Gallery, Beijing