—
2024.4.13 - 2024.5.19
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10:30-18:30
—
Liu Yangwen's second solo exhibition "Unusual State" at Tong Gallery+Projects will open on April 13th, 2024 and will run until May 19th, 2024. The exhibition will present Liu Yangwen's latest paintings.
"Unusual State" can be directly interpreted as different perspectives, different spaces, alternative spaces, mysterious spaces, or unknown spaces. It can also be associated with Nietzsche's theory of the Übermensch or Hegel's concept of absolute spirit: the Übermensch can transcend traditional concepts and constraints, creating their own values and destiny, thereby reaching a transcendent realm; absolute spirit is considered to be a universal rationality or absolute knowledge that transcends individual and finite rationality. All can be seen as a kind of "Unusual State".
"People are within them." The dancing lines and heavy-colored backgrounds penetrate, linger, and fill the environment in the artwork, creating an unusual state, and a space enveloped by Liu‘s creations. There is no way in or out; the picture seems to become a place rather than an object. Viewers find themselves immersed, unable to escape. The lines twist, dance, and immerse on the canvas, carrying with them precise yet uncontrollable movements and a sense of power, forming a closed field. His works break the external structure of objects through interlocking rigid lines and contrasting visual colors, allowing lines and blocks to continuously grow and collide, creating a strong contrast effect. At the same time, this contrast creates an atmosphere of aggression, making viewers feel a strong visual tension. Intense energy fields burst from the depths of the picture, and this internal energy is only sparked by the unique external form, thereby transforming traditional themes into expressions of their own distinct identity. Eileen Chang's often used "melancholy threat" is the best way to describe it.
These are primal and intense works, composed of dense, comprehensive, gestural brushstrokes, where every inch of the surface is fully activated, forming a rhythmic pattern. The curved linear forms in the picture merge into ambiguous suggestive images, creating a certain friction of spirituality, which then bursts into flames. Invisibly, surging stamens, petals, and even the forms of flowers emerge from the mainly blue and white strokes of bewilderment. Liu‘s works generate a highly emotional impact through their gestural painting treatment, rich surface texture and patterns, and interwoven density of forms.
In the work Beyond Spirit Beyond Form, the orange-yellow shapes stand out prominently against the white petals, which in turn play a crucial role in shaping the composition. Different shades of yellow blend with creamy white, bursting forth in abstract forms, undergoing deconstruction, dispersion, and recombination. Intense emotions are released through sharp brushstrokes. The space between shapes is connected by loosely applied blue paint, creating the impression of structures crowding, overlapping, and colliding with each other.
In Rose 4-23 and Rose 7-23, the seemingly unrestrained lines repeat basic forms and postures, forming a coherent and striking visual structure. Despite the primal strength of these lines, each brushstroke is balanced in harmony with its counterpart, demonstrating the artist's thoughtful deliberation and strong intent during the creative process. All the energy, the struggles, and the gestures eventually turn into an inadvertent coherence.
