"Pollution is the shadow of progress. "
Sylvain Tesson (writer)
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What a beautiful, chilling scene. A chain of blue and green mountains rise up from a misty sea. But look closely and you’ll notice something isn’t quite right with this earthy piece…
The photographic montage, the work of a Chinese artist named Yang Yongliang, hides a few secrets in its classical facade.
With its jagged mountains, his piece Viridesence resembles something you’d expect to see on a scroll or antique fan.
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Yang Yongliang, "Viridescence, page 1, 17.3 x 17.3 in, 2009. © Yang Yongliang.
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The artist, a multi-media virtuoso fluent in calligraphy, photography and videography, is deeply inspired by his country’s traditional creative forms.
The blue and green colors are an allusion to a school of painting that developed during the Tang Dynasty (over 1000 years ago). There’s a lot of history packed into this contemporary work.
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Wang Ximeng, "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains", 113, ink and colors on silk, 1.7 x 39 ft, Palace Museum, Beijing. Detail of the work.
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There’s also plenty of criticism. A hurried spectator might not notice that the trees dotting Yongliang’s mountaintops aren’t all that tree like. Getting closer to the forests, we realize they’re actually electricity towers.
In fact, the mountains are covered in imposters! Instead of foot paths, highways wrap around the natural wonders. And that eerie fog that originally seemed so elegant? It suddenly starts to look a whole lot like a cloud of pollution.
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Yang Yongliang, "Viridescence, page 1, 17.3 x 17.3 in, 2009. Detail of the work. © Yang Yongliang.
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This alarming theme, a comment on China’s vast and rapid urbanization, appears in many of Yongliang’s pieces. In paying homage to the landscapes of Chinese masters, he seems nostalgic for a natural world that’s quickly disappearing.
"I want to make people reflect. Modern life is comfortable and convenient, but we rarely think about what we exchange for that."
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Yang Yongliang, still from "Phantom Landscape", 2010, blu-ray disk, color, sound, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. © Yang Yongliang.
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 Pollution is the shadow of progress.
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Sylvain Tesson (writer) 
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Yang Yongliang, "Viridescence, page 2, 17.3 x 17.3 in, 2009. Detail of the work. © Yang Yongliang.
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Artist Yang Yongliang is from which country?
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