White Space is pleased to announce Gao Ludi’s fifth solo exhibition, Journal, at the gallery, opening on March 13 through May 5, 2021, presenting a series of acrylic on canvas works Gao Ludi completed from 2020 to 2021.
As the exhibition title suggests, these works on canvas, balancing figuration and abstraction, conjure and document the artist's various moods and wills. Expanding on the ontology of painting, contemporary visual experience and everyday subject matters, the series manifests the artist's methodological development in the painting practice.
Gao Ludi, Goggles, 2020-2021, acrylic, watercolor, oil and paint on canvas, 200×150 cm
courtesy the artist and White Space Beijing
Gao Ludi, Section of A Burger, 2020, acrylic, watercolor and oil on canvas, 270×200 cm
courtesy the artist and White Space Beijing
Although the works on view in this exhibition do not emphasize narration, while what provoked this series were the exchanges of seen and heard with friends and relatives and the dispersion of fleeting moments of sentimentality in their absence, compelled by the restricted sense of time and space last year. Eyes, portraits, flora, and food are common and tangible subject matters in painting, taken from the artist's surroundings, and humble exchange and expressions between people and the world.
The exhibition title, "Journal," also intends to reveal a comprehensive nature of the artist's work process and method. The eyes and gaze frequently depicted in the artworks not only emphasize the artist's approach to observation but also suggest the diverse functions and semantics built into the action and process of "looking.". The way of viewing works as much as a starting point for the artist to face the world and acquire information as it does a pathway to trigger feelings and communication. By which, the artist points to a series of actions as the result of output, inspiring new ways of viewing and being viewed, so on and so forth. The artist sweeps, receives, and absorbs a wide range of contemporary visual sources, edits these fragments and experiences from everyday life, and internalizes them in his paintings. As a result, the unadulterated fluorescent colors, geometrically aestheticized dots, lines and surfaces, and complex and varied brushstrokes give shape to these integrated amalgamations, drawing both the psychological "feeling" and the physical "touch." Furthermore, the smoothness in their vectorial sense, the grainy state of the bitmap, and the material texture create spatial tension with the visuality and emotions of the real world.
Gao Ludi, Football Fans, 2020-2021, acrylic, watercolor, oil, paint and crayon on canvas, 200×270 cm
courtesy the artist and White Space Beijing
Gao Ludi, Little Banana, 2020-2021, acrylic, watercolor, oil and paint on canvas, 270×200 cm
courtesy the artist and White Space Beijing
Gao Ludi, Bok Choy, 2020, acrylic, watercolor and paint on canvas, 200×270 cm
courtesy the artist and White Space Beijing
About the artist:
Gao Ludi (b. 1990, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China) received his BFA in Oil Painting at the Institute for Fine Arts at Capital Normal University (Beijing) in 2013.
Recent solo exhibitions include Journal, WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Beijing, China (2021); 1:1, QIAO SPACE, Shanghai, China (2020); Juicy, WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Beijing, China (2018); Album, Ibid Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2018); Gao Ludi: Painting Blind, or, a History of Abyssal Movements, Wyoming Project, Beijing, China (2017); Gao Ludi, WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Beijing, China (2016).
Recent group exhibitions include: 2020 – Song Art Invitation Exhibition, Song Art Museum, Beijing, China (2020); A White Space Odyssey, WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Beijing, China(2019); A World in a Grain of Sand: Mapping Shapes and Sites for Social Deometries, Atlantis Sanya, Sanya, China (2018); Our Painting, Yang Art Museum, Beijing, China (2016). He was featured on the list of "30 Under 30 Asia 2019" by Forbes. Gao Ludi currently lives and works in Beijing, China.
About the exhibition:
Gao Ludi | Journal
Duration: 3.13-5.5, 2021
Venue: White Space, Beijing
Image and text courtesy of the artist and the organizer.
