Exhibition Review｜Bao Dong Writes Xu Hongxiang: Displaced Images

Critical Review

2022.10.11

The works of Xu Hongxiang do not supply us with images that are straightforward—circumventing explicit symbolism and preventing them from being spectacularized. He deliberately chooses those “aestheticized” commonplace images, much like those aesthetically-correct images foraged from free stock photo websites. He then breaks down and rearranges the compositions of these images, organizing them following the structural logic of background, middle ground, and foreground, and pairing them with elements such as still life, landscape, and figures. In this process, Xu Hongxiang made no effort in concealing the traces of photoshop—the unrealistic perspectives, the awkward collages, the disproportionate figure-ground relationships, the off-putting repetitions, or the peculiar, embarrassing compositional symmetries, all come together and reveal his disdain towards “correctness." Not only in terms of the images, these works make all sorts of pictorial “mistakes,” wreaking a plethora of dissonances throughout. These nonsensical brushstrokes, illuminating blobs and splashes painted on a whim, and the faint layers of white paint revealed from impulsive scrubbings… Although this kind of transgression might seem outmoded and lacking radicality, its painterly aesthetic responds to the unique chaotic quality of our time’s visual (but not limited to only visual) expression—an abundance of nothingness. Our living world today is filled with phenomena, ineffable. In other words, the visible reality can never obtain a truly explanatory description, losing what’s called totality by Georg Lukács. If one were to trace the cause of this historical situation, it would be the fact that the world constructed by mankind has gradually spiraled out of control, from capitalism, technology, and images. The first to notice and attempt to grasp such plight were photographers and the historical avant-gardists. They utilized a form of non-organic, non-self-regulated art to liberate and renew our perceptions, trying to reshape our consciousness, though this attempt ultimately achieved only the legitimacy of the "anything goes" attitude in art-making. Moreover, this “anything goes” attitude has spilled over into the realm of everyday aesthetics. Driven by both capitalism and technology, these images that are always correct have completely taken our public space. The purpose of reiterating the historical backdrop and the current situation is to propose a question on today’s art—how can one go wrong under an error-free aesthetic paradigm? For Xu Hongxiang, he aims to present the sophistication of his subjects, be it the content of his images or the painterly language, or the artistic mediums or techniques. This so-called sophistication sets aside logic and sanctions an indulgence in experience, and there appears to be a bit of showing off on the painting’s surfaces. As we can tell, the works of Xu Hongxiang don’t reward self-restraint. It instead explores 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. What must be mentioned is Xu Hongxiang's printmaking background. Printmaking was once a form of the popular image, while the technical source of the modern image was photography, whose predecessor was printmaking, and collage, the basic grammar of historical avant-garde, has long been embedded in the way printmaking works. In terms of the way the work is constructed, Xu Hongxiang's paintings come from a printmaking mindset that does not attempt to offer the viewer a (realist or romanticist) illusion, but rather makes us clearly aware that these are just images. In an era where photos on social media have gradually taken over everyone’s identity, it is easy to paint that kinds of paintings that are a bit rebellious, and it’s also easy to be emotional and have a stance on certain things. The hardest thing is that painting as a medium is merging with our zeitgeist but at the same time, also deviating from it. In other words, today’s contemporaneity has an inevitable anachronistic attitude towards anachronism. They are certainly beautiful, but in a way that lacks willpower; they are aesthetically safe, but with a whiff of unease that makes you feel like something is wrong. Oh, anyway, “Displaced Images” is actually a folder in Xu Hongxiang’s computer.

Artists

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 solo exhibitions includes: "Xu Hongxiang: Wander" (Aurora Museum, Shanghai, 2024), "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), "Xu Hongxiang Solo Exhibition" (SZ Art Center, Beijing, 2014). His solo project includes: "Cultivating in solitude - Xu Hongxiang's Residency Program in Australia" ( LalLal Art Museum, Melbourne, 2023), "Artists Residency Program: The JAEGER EXPERIEMENT" ( JINGHOPE Art Center, Sanya, 2021), "Shuffle Parallel Vienna 2018" (Vienna, 2018), "Li Qiang" (Changsha, 2016), "In the Field" (Changsha, 2016) . Selected group exhibitions includes: "Web of Being: The Living Network" (Tang Contemporary Art, Singapore, 2025), "The season has not arrived" (Atmosphere Space, Nanjing, 2024), "DIALOGUE: Art Museum Tour by Art Gallery Association Beijing" (Art Museum of SCFAI, Chongqing, 2024), "Symphony of Coexistence - Chinese and Southeast Asian Art Invitational Exhibition" (Art Museum of SCFAI, Chongqing, 2024), "Follow the Rabbit - Talking stock of a collection and its reception through contemporary Chinese art" (Museum Liaunig, Austria, 2023).

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