Artists have always questioned the norms of societal propriety. Many aggressively challenge why we do what we do, while others—such as Yang Jiechang in his solo show "Tale of the 11th Day," now on at Tang Contemporary Art—plant tongue firmly in cheek and create works which not only question, but amuse and titillate.

Stranger Than Paradise, the exhibition piece which greets visitors, is an exercise in pushing boundaries. It's a forest of narrow pedestals of varying heights atop which are perched pairs of animals—humans included—engaged in raucous lovemaking. Whether it be woman and bear, goat and camel, calf and tiger, the combinations are as endless as they are amusing. Especially comic are the ceramic dog and pelican, physically unattached but eyeing each other, trying, one imagines, to figure out the logistics.

Overhead, Yang, featured in a video installation, bangs his head on a gong, and the sound reverberates throughout the room. Altogether, the sculptures and sound combined are so fun and frivolous that the initial question of "Why?" becomes, "Well, why not?"

Yang has long studied Zen Buddhism and Taoism, and it's tempting to interpret these scenes of man and beast going wild as a comment on the human need to get over differences, as we all originate from the same source. However, in the next room hangs a large-scale painting titled Tale of the 11th Day in which Yang plays on Boccaccio's Decameron, a medieval tome which tells the bawdy tales of a group of men and women passing the time in a countryside villa after fleeing the Black Plague in Florence. The tales are lusty, as is Yang's painting, which shows animals and humans once again frolicking to their heart's content in a setting that very much resembles Paradise.

Whether Yang is making a serious statement about the changing borders of individual identity in a globalized world, or attempting the visual equivalent of an elbow nudge to the ribs, "Tale of the 11th Day" is a fun view.

DETAILS

What: Yang Jiechang's Tale of the 11th Day

Where: Tang Contemporary Art

When: through Nov. 30

Web: www.tangcontemporary.com