Xu Hongxiang
Xu Hongxiang: Displaced Images
2022.10.08 - 11.20
TRIUMPH GALLERY is pleased to present artist Xu Hongxiang(b.1984, China)'s latest solo exhibition curated by Bao Dong, Displaced Images, from October 8th to November 20th, 2022. The exhibition will present Xu Hongxiang's latest content explorations and technical dimensions with his recent paintings.
The title of this exhibition, Displaced Images, comes from the folder of the same name on the artist's computer desktop and also refers to the artist's creative philosophy and approach. Xu Hongxiang, who graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree, incorporates printmaking thinking into his paintings. He intentionally chooses those "aestheticized" commonplace images, much like those aesthetic images, and then disrupts them, matching them with specific structures and elements. Then, he uses these nonsensical brushstrokes, illuminating blobs and splashes painted on a whim. The faint layers of white paint revealed from impulsive scrubbings to compose works that make all kinds of pictorial "mistakes" and are full of discordant elements.
In the creation process, Xu Hongxiang is unapologetic traces of photoshop, the unrealistic perspectives, the awkward collages, the disproportionate figure-ground relationships, the off-putting repetitions, and the peculiar, embarrassing compositional symmetries all come together and reveal his disdain towards "correctness." Because in an era where those images that are always "correct" have completely taken over the public space, what Xu Hongxiang seeks is how one can go wrong under an error-free aesthetic paradigm. Xu Hongxiang's works are not restrained but rather explore a bit on both content and technical dimensions; the former responds to the world of images, while the latter responds to the essence of painting.
The title of this exhibition, Displaced Images, comes from the folder of the same name on the artist's computer desktop and also refers to the artist's creative philosophy and approach. Xu Hongxiang, who graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree, incorporates printmaking thinking into his paintings. He intentionally chooses those "aestheticized" commonplace images, much like those aesthetic images, and then disrupts them, matching them with specific structures and elements. Then, he uses these nonsensical brushstrokes, illuminating blobs and splashes painted on a whim. The faint layers of white paint revealed from impulsive scrubbings to compose works that make all kinds of pictorial "mistakes" and are full of discordant elements.
In the creation process, Xu Hongxiang is unapologetic traces of photoshop, the unrealistic perspectives, the awkward collages, the disproportionate figure-ground relationships, the off-putting repetitions, and the peculiar, embarrassing compositional symmetries all come together and reveal his disdain towards "correctness." Because in an era where those images that are always "correct" have completely taken over the public space, what Xu Hongxiang seeks is how one can go wrong under an error-free aesthetic paradigm. Xu Hongxiang's works are not restrained but rather explore a bit on both content and technical dimensions; the former responds to the world of images, while the latter responds to the essence of painting.
Xu Hongxiang
Xu Hongxiang was born in 1984 in Changsha, Hunan, China. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2007 with a bachelor´s degree, graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2011 with a master's degree, and now lives and works in Beijing.
Xu Hongxiang’s artistic practice often revolves around painting. Project-based painting series with narrative contents and oil paintings centered on landscapes are the two parallel creative approaches that punctuate his career. "Image", "body", and "the relationship between painting and reality" are the overarching themes he has been trying to explore in his multi-media painting projects throughout the years. The traits of his highly stylized painting, which included a signature saturated palette, are the fragments that reflect such themes.
Xu Hongxiang’s selected solo exhibitions and projects includes: "Xu Hongxiang: Ancient Posts" (Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha, 2023), "Xu Hongxiang: Displaced Images" (Triumph Gallery, Beijing, 2022), "Xu Hongxiang: An Exuberant View" (Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, 2021), "Xu Hongxiang: One Night While Hunting for Faeries" (Loft8 Galerie, Vienna, 2019), "Not Dark Yet - Xu Hongxiang Solo Exhibition" (Triumph Gallery, Beijing, 2018), "Shuffling the Cards" (Parallel Vienna, Vienna, 2018), "Li Qiang" (Changsha, 2016), "In the Field" (Changsha, 2016), "Xu Hongxiang Solo Exhibition" (SZ Art Center, Beijing, 2014). Selected group exhibitions includes: "Follow the Rabbit - Talking stock of a collection and its reception through contemporary Chinese art" (Museum Liaunig, Austria, 2023), "History and Reality: Contemporary Art of China" (Bulgarian National Museum of Art, Sofia, 2018), "Visual Questions" (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, 2017), "Oriental Story" (National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2017),"Centripetal Force" (SCA Galleries, Sydney, 2017), "In Silence - China Contemporary Art" (Sydney Town Hall, Sydney, 2014).
Xu Hongxiang’s artistic practice often revolves around painting. Project-based painting series with narrative contents and oil paintings centered on landscapes are the two parallel creative approaches that punctuate his career. "Image", "body", and "the relationship between painting and reality" are the overarching themes he has been trying to explore in his multi-media painting projects throughout the years. The traits of his highly stylized painting, which included a signature saturated palette, are the fragments that reflect such themes.
Xu Hongxiang’s selected solo exhibitions and projects includes: "Xu Hongxiang: Ancient Posts" (Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha, 2023), "Xu Hongxiang: Displaced Images" (Triumph Gallery, Beijing, 2022), "Xu Hongxiang: An Exuberant View" (Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, 2021), "Xu Hongxiang: One Night While Hunting for Faeries" (Loft8 Galerie, Vienna, 2019), "Not Dark Yet - Xu Hongxiang Solo Exhibition" (Triumph Gallery, Beijing, 2018), "Shuffling the Cards" (Parallel Vienna, Vienna, 2018), "Li Qiang" (Changsha, 2016), "In the Field" (Changsha, 2016), "Xu Hongxiang Solo Exhibition" (SZ Art Center, Beijing, 2014). Selected group exhibitions includes: "Follow the Rabbit - Talking stock of a collection and its reception through contemporary Chinese art" (Museum Liaunig, Austria, 2023), "History and Reality: Contemporary Art of China" (Bulgarian National Museum of Art, Sofia, 2018), "Visual Questions" (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, 2017), "Oriental Story" (National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2017),"Centripetal Force" (SCA Galleries, Sydney, 2017), "In Silence - China Contemporary Art" (Sydney Town Hall, Sydney, 2014).
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Curator
Curator
Bao Dong
Bao Dong is an art critic and curator based in Beijing，founder and art director of Beijing Contemporary Art Expo. In contributing essays to the artistic dialogue and other forms of involvement, Bao has established himself as a leading curator and critic of work by the new generation. His articles have been widely published in art journals and artist monographs both at home and abroad. He has curated many exhibitions for a wide range of art institutions including Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Guangdong Art Museum, the Art Center of Chulalongkorn University, Guangdong Times Museum, Shanghai & Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shanghai etc. He was awarded Asian Cultural Council (ACC) fellowship grant in 2014, and became a nominee of Independent Curators International’s (ICI) 2014 Independent Vision Curatorial Award. Recently he was awarded Yishu Awards for Curating Contemporary Chinese Art 2016.