Han Yitian: MR.BUZZ

Mr. Buzz, a man in boredom. "Boredom" is not a contemporary word; however, with the evolution of the society people's perception and definition of it have witnessed drastic changes. 

In the Middle Ages, boredom could be considered a vice by theologians because "boredom represented the neglected of religious duties". When Nietzsche claimed that "god is dead", boredom was hereby linked with desires and sensualities. But today at a time when religious myths are gradually under deconstruction, boredom has become a unique state of mind that cannot be eliminated by technological development and instead, is even aggravated by it. 

Han Yitian, an artist born in the late 1980s, takes his own living environment as a point of departure to explore his own existence through boredom, and raises a question worth serious thinking in his new solo exhibition MR. BUZZ: do all contemporary people expect a sense of boredom? 

Works on view at MR. BUZZ are not only Han's diary-like record of life, but also his re-creation of the seemingly "boring" subtleties in the hope to search for something "unboring" from within. Take MR. BUZZ, the eponymous work of the exhibition, for example. The artist draws inspiration from the graffiti he once saw on abandoned school desks. Name of the protagonist, Mr. Buzz, is both a homage to Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin, and reflects the sound effect the artist imagines "boredom" would leave on people's mind. Detaching himself from the time and space in which he is trapped in boredom, Han Yitian then chooses to create in this scenario in a way that is familiar to people and restores the scene through re-presentation. The desk covered with graffiti now has become a work that ignites memories and resonance.

To fill time by deftly dealing with it and meaninglessly killing it is the mind game that the artist wants to plays with the audience through his creation. 

For the contemporary people, most of their sense of boredom is bound by their identities and the scenarios they are in. For example, students kill time by doodling on their desks, and office workers browse short videos on subways. Heidegger raised the idea of profound boredom, meaning that boring oneself with something is a more profound form of boredom. 

Mood, an installation created by the artist during the pandemic, reflects exactly this kind of profound boredom that is detached from anything that could be associated with it. At a time when everyone had nothing to do and nowhere to go, boredom presented itself as an opportunity for people to leave the external identity behind and pay true attention to oneself. The artist sensitively captures this and endeavors to inspire both himself and the audience to truly pay attention the "self". This is exactly what the artist describes as the "sense of boredom" that contemporary people expect. 

MR. BUZZ intends to encourage people to experience time and find their own self through the language of art that is close to our daily life; and it also tries to build evidence of the interconnections and existence of different individuals through gaze. 

One prominent feature of Olympia by Manet is when viewers gaze at the painting, it feels they are being gazed by the figures in the painting too. Han Yitian's On Duty manages to adds a third-party perspective that is easily neglected in the museum context – the gaze from the security guard on duty. Instead of delineating the eyes of the figures in his work in detail, the artist resorts to reflections on their lenses to make the gaze seem to come from all directions. This echoes perfectly the gaze we feel, not from a specific spot but from the depth of our mind. The gazes and counter-gazes between the other and "me" further deepen the viewers' sense of their own existence in the exhibition. 

Contemporary people manage to experience time in the remaining "sense of boredom". While looking at art, they manage to pay their attention back to themselves. The "Mr. Buzz" in Han Yitian work derives from life and then gives life back to the viewers for contemplation.