For a long time, visual art seems to have been bound with “delineation”. The light in the gallery highlights the artworks in the center of the stage, which deepens this stereotype and makes the lights brighter and the darks deeper. However, the artworks of young artists exhibited here aim to update the stereotype – they’ve broken the natural boundary between “dark” and “l(fā)ight” rather than being confined to “delineation”.
Monochromization is the first step to break the barrier. In the context of space, black or grey is not confined to a single color; on the contrary, they are the result of the overlay and diffusion of various hues. They salvage images from the verisimilitude-based “truth”, and become self-referential expression. In this exhibition, even the most realistic works are blended with some “noise” from the multi-dimensional world, and thus have gained the tone of black-and-white photographs.
Chen Hongbo, Endless Float 1, 60 cm X11.5 cm diameter, mixed media, four layer of acrylic
Li Ying, Now· Where· Black and White, 230x250x120cm, Metal & wood, 2013-2014
“De-surface” is the second step. The participating artists in the exhibition undoubtedly have a strong sense about “plane” or “solid” because their works resort to a polysemantic “structure”, which can be both space and images: twisting space and subtle images. The lines of the “structure” have woven a fine-meshed spatial net while presenting it as a boundless image.
Finally, art has faded out in space. The ancients suggested that “the seen but intangible” art is like a black-stripe leopard in Nanshan Mountain, which secludes itself from the world. According to The Book of Yi, “we should explore profoundly to fathom the unfathomable, and dig deep into art so as to reach far”. What is displayed here is the art to fathom the unfathomable. The real flesh and blood is embodied in the low-key skin and bone, which delineates the dark and profound possibility in space for us.
Curator: Tang Keyang
Lu Xiao, The Poet and Philosopher Series, 100 x80cm, oil painting, 2014
Li Guanguan, Half· Magnolia 1, 100x80cm,Ink color on silk, 2014
About the exhibition
Duration: Dec 21-28 2014
Venue: Today Art Museum - 1st floor exhibition hall of Building No.3
Opening: Dec 21 2014 Sun 16:00
Artists: Cai Dongdong, Chen Hongbo, Li Guanguan, Li Ying, Lu Xiao, Yan Hairong
Tel: 010-58760600
Add: Pingod community, No.32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Courtesy of the artists and Today Art Museum, for further information please visit www.todayartmuseum.com.
