"Xu Hongxiang: Ancient Posts" will be exhibited at Xie Zilong Photography Museum from April 29, 2023

Gallery Dynamic

2023.04.23

EXHIBITION TITLE Xu Hongxiang: Ancient Posts ARTIST Xu Hongxiang CURATOR Liu Gang OPENING RECEPTION 2023.05.07 DURATION 2023.04.29 - 07.09 VENUE Xie Zilong Photography Museum, 2F Hall 5 & Light Valley‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ No. 387 Xiaoxiang South Road, Yuelu District, Changsha, Hunan Province HOST Xie Zilong Photography Museum DURATION TRIUMPH GALLERY The Pin Projects ABOUT THE EXHITBION TRIUMPH GALLERY is pleased to announce that the latest solo exhibition of artist Xu Hongxiang (b.1984, China) , *Xu Hongxiang: Ancient Posts, will be exhibited at Xie Zilong Photography Museum* (Changsha, Hunan Province) from April 29th to July 9th, 2023. The exhibition is curated by Liu Gang. Xinkaipu, Heishipu and Datuopu were originally the names of the ancient posts from Changsha to Xiangtan. Usually, there would be a post for each ten miles, and these three posts were just five kilometers away from each other. Gradually, the three ancient posts were evolved into the synonym of the names of the place that covers a five-mile radius. Later on, with the pace of urbanization accelerated, townships and suburbs were incorporated into urban planning, and the names of the three ancient posts became official names of streets and communities. Urbanization has changed the function of land and formed a new mechanism. It has also changed people's lifestyle and shaped the character of contemporary Changsha people. Times have passed and circumstances have changed: theancient posts now no longer exist, replaced by railways and highways; the former wilderness is now filled with tall buildings, bridges leap across the wide Xiangjiang River; buildings are scattered and streets are bustling......These people, events, and things involved in the process of urbanization has formed a image that intertwines time and space. Xu Hongxiang and his family, friends, and relatives were all in this image and become a part of the development of present Changsha.. Those people working in the fields in his childhood were his grandpa, grandma, and neighbors; those early businessmen were his fathers and elder generations; and his childhood friends also live in the present Changsha, which has been fully urbanized. Only the names of Xinkaipu, Heishipu and Datuopu remain unchanged. The three place names that Xu is familiar with will be kept for long, appearing in the city’s maps, signboards, and subway stations. They are the imprint of the change of dynasties in ancient Changsha and the witness of the urbanization of new China. Xu Hongxiang was born in Changsha, Hunan Province in 1984, and the three places aforementioned have been closely related to the path of his growing up. Xinkaipu is where he lived as a child and carries almost all of his childhood memories. Five kilometers away is Heishipu, where he launched a temporary studio in 2020. Further south leads to Datuopu, where he currently lives after returning to Changsha. The three place names are like a series of clasps that connect the past and present of Changsha, as well as connect Xu Hongxiang's memories and thereality. Describing his own experience and thinking in a visual way, Xu Hongxiang has finally collected them into an exhibition to present to the audience. Xu is at the same time a creator and an observer, a personal witness and an objective describer of the city's transformation. His works depict reality but also detached from reality. Memory, fantasy, dream, and reality intertwine with each other under the changes of time and space, finally evolving into the images of Xu Hongxiang. ARTIST Xu Hongxiang was born in Changsha, Hunan Province, China in 1984, graduated from the Printmaking Department of China 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. CURATOR Liu Gang，Curator, founder and director of The Pin Projects and artist. Born in Changsha, China in 1983, graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2008, currently lives and works in Beijing. As a curator and the director of The Pin Projects, Liu builds on the achievement with a global outlook. He is committed to promote cultural exchanges between Europe and China through his own cultural brand -The Pin Projects. Major exhibitions he curated and produced include: Now Is the Time: 2019 Wuzhen Contemporary Art Exhibition (Wuzhen); Xi’an Light Festival (G-Park Xi’an, 2018); The Imagined Future is not the Future (OCT-LOFT Shenzhen, 2017), Harper’s Bazaar 150th Anniversary Exhibition (Today’s Museum Beijing, 2017); Visual Questions – Young artists ’visions and experiences (Guangdong Museum of Art, 2017); SeaWorld Light Festival (Shenzhen 2016); Taikoo Li Light Festival (Beijing 2016); Utopias/Heterotopias- 2016 Wuzhen International Contemporary Art Exhibition (Wuzhen, 2016); The Future of Fashion is Now (OCT Land Shanghai, 2015, Hua Museum Shenzhen, 2016); SUN JIE & JIE SUN- Sun Jie Contemporary Jewelry design Show (Shanghai, 2015); We May Have Met Before – Chinese Contemporary Photography Exhibition (Fotomuseum Amsterdam, 2015), Now is the Time/Magnum Photo (Beijing Sanlitun, 2015); The Nurturing House at Beijing Design Week, Dutch Embassy Program (Dashila Beijing, 2015); Work, Rest and Play: British Photography from the 1960s to Today (OCT-LOFT Shenzhen, Minsheng Art Museum Shanghai and Visual Art Center of OCT Chengdu, 2015); Still/Life – Contemporary Photography Exhibition (Three Shadows Beijing, 2014 and Shanghai Himalayas Museum, 2015); Self/Unself – Dutch Contemporary Design Exhibition (Jinji Lake Art Museum Suzhou, 2014 and Macau Design Center, 2015); The Dutch program at Beijing Design Week(Dashila Beijing, 2014); The Space between Us– Dutch photography exhibition (He Xiang Ning Art Museum Shenzhen, 2014); Triple Parade – Dutch Jewelry Design Exhibition (OCT-LOFT Shenzhen, 2014); Amsterdam Guest City Program at 2013 Beijing Design Week (751 D-park Beijing); Wassink Lundgren Solo Exhibition (Jinji Lake art museum Suzhou 2013).

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 selected solo exhibitions and projects 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), "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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