Yan Laichao’s latest solo exhibition “Pompeii” opened at SHUNLUCK SPACE on May 8th, 2021. Yan Laichao graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze) and he received a master’s degree in Expressive Painting with New Visual Language. Yan resided in Italy and this is his first solo exhibition in China, which showcases many paintings and installations that he has created in recent years.
Exhibition View of “Pompeii: Yan Laichao Solo Exhibition”
Lives as carriers of material existence, interact and evolve in the process of the development and change in the universe, which constitute “continuing” existence. Pompeii remains an important clue to Yan Laichao’s creative concepts as he integrates his individual experience of emotions into the landscape of Pompeii from the perspective of a traveler. For Yan, Pompeii is a symbol of life transcending time and space. Goethe described this: people loved tragedies as they served as a foil to ordinary life. With an imagination and comprehension of disasters and tragedies, they can reach the peak of emotions and adrenaline. The volcano destroyed the city and it also preserved the city. Pompeii seems to be immortal and it has become a legend, a dream, an oracle and a city that has realized its eternity through the concern and imagination of future generations. For a work to be eternal, the flowing of life and time are fictional.
Yan Laichao, Summer, Pigments and charcoal on paper, 30×36cm, 2011 
Yan Laichao, Stream of Consciousness I, Mixed media, 50×70cm, 2017
Yan Laichao, Ruins, Mixed media, 100×80cm, 2021
Yan Laichao, Landscape No. 1, Mixed media, 100×80cm, 2021
Through the process that the artist endows a life onto an object through a conceptual image that can be perceived, the relaxed and delicate strokes have then formed his unique artistic expression.
Backlight Series
Yan Laichao, The Truth That Cannot Be Concealed, Mixed media, 120×100cm, 2021
This exhibition encourages the audience to explore and comprehend life by circulating an imagination. The exhibition was opened with the Curator Chen Wenhua’s speech. With the guiding tour of the exhibition by the artist and the curator, the transition of life and decline in the context of Pompeii can be found in Yan’s work, and his exploration and experience in life and his emotions can also be detected.
Yan Laichao, Inverted Earth, Mixed media, 78×57cm, 2021
Yan Laichao, Happy Planet, Mixed media, 160×100cm, 2021
The exhibition will remain on view till July 8th, 2021.
The Opening Ceremony
About the artist
Yan Laichao was born in Wuhan, Hubei province in 1985 and currently he lives and works in Italy. He received a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Oil Painting, Central China Normal University in 2010 and a master’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze) in 2014. He now serves as the Secretary-General of the Italian International Cultural Development and Communication Association. He won the Excellent Award from the Tenth Florence Biennale and the Award of Painting from the Rome Biennale of Culture and Art. His work has participated in exhibitions such as Rome Biennale of Culture and Art in 2019, and “Future History” in the Art Museum of Nanjing Normal University in 2020.
About the curator
Chen Wenhua is an artist of new media and a curator. He was born in Yanjiang, Guangdong province. He graduated from the School of Fine Arts, South China Normal University with a master’s degree. He was a visiting scholar at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2020. Currently he lives and works in Guangzhou. He is dedicated to research and the planning of contemporary art and design in the virtual era. He has curated exhibitions such as “Fog is a cloud closer to the ground”, “Inciting Words” and so on. He has participated in the “The Third CAFAM Biennale”, “The Second Huayu Youth Award”, “Longli International New Media Art Festival” and so on. Chen Wenhua’s curatorial and creative practices mostly come to a point at the boundary between virtual space and realistic space, and he explores the landscape significance presented by the collision and intersection between virtual space and realistic space.
Courtesy of the artist and SHUNLUCK SPACE, edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO
