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Don Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of ZHANG Ruyi's solo exhibition "Once Remain, Once Remould", which will run from November 3, 2023 through January 31, 2024. This is the artist's fourth solo exhibition at Don Gallery, following "Consciousness of Location" in 2019. It will feature a series of brand-new sculptures and two dimensional pieces. The title of the exhibition is inspired by ZHANG Ruyi's observations of urban renewal and spatial exhalation. In an era of increasing savagery, the artist continues to examine the detritus that surrounds her, emphasising the undefined forms of contemporary life with creations that lie somewhere between construction and destruction.<br/><br/>ZHANG Ruyi discovered the flexibility of urban building materials after creating her iconic concrete sculptures. The work Bycatch the Dust offers an up-and-down view of a hanging object that acts as a limb of the city, a spatial appendage freed from its functional logic. The texture and imagery of the work itself paradoxically evokes the familiar experience of looking at urban greenery. Correspondingly, Dilapidated Gently Sloping, inspired by the common freight iron plate, provides an understated drama to the visual climb. The austere composition of the mosaic cactus reflects, as always, ZHANG Ruyi's fascination with industrial props. ZHANG Ruyi's installation creates traces of uninvolved activity, like a theatre stage. Or, more accurately, a slice of a rising industrial scene. Linking the space in front of and behind the gallery is Planter-7: it takes the form of a niche favoured by the artist, with embedded concrete deities and tilted walls that lead the viewer's eye into a man-made, plastic films rotunda.<br/><br/>In the rotunda, ZHANG Ruyi pushes the romance of privacy and the compulsion of publicity to the centre of the stage. Dense plastic films, tapes, fish tanks, mutilated door frames, and constantly looping images: the viewer encounters the "gravel" of modern society in an ever-changing landscape of light and shadow. This circular landscape echoes the uncertainty of aesthetics, as it resembles both a home construction site under renovation and an old abandoned house that retains the remnants of life. In the exhibition, ZHANG Ruyi reflects on life and builds sculptures of it in two procedures. One is fragmentation, and the other is the process of exposing physical objects. For example, in Perishable Modernity-2, the slightly tilted steel bars, broken bricks and inverted chair allude to Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye: a modernist clean façade lined with pierced steel bars.<br/><br/>ZHANG Ruyi's work is deeply inspired by the street and beyond, which manifests itself in a love of abandoned objects on the road and a speculation about the sense of belonging of specific renovation consumables. This forms the "family image" of her work, reminding people of the original environment of these remains or remould objects. Her work has always been an analogue of urban metabolism. In essence, this speculation is a dirge, a dirge for the aging city. Extracting Slices-2 offers the viewer of the exhibition an epigraph: in front of and behind the doorframe, inside and outside, left and right, the sheer space surrounding the hidden entity invites one to scrutinise the interpenetration of public and private relations.<br/><br/>Rosalind E. Krauss, in the closing chapter of The Passages in Modern Sculpture (1977), describes in detail the gist of what the minimalists were all about: '…it staked everything on the accuracy of a meaning…'. She argues that these artists rejected illusionism in sculpture: turning stone into flesh, for example, and sculpture into metaphor. In the coming exhibition, "Once Remain, Once Remould", ZHANG Ruyi attempts a bold synthesis: letting illusion reach its peak in a minimalist arrangement, Matching urban metaphors to appropriate condensation.<br/><br/>By XIA Tian

ZHANG Ruyi: Once Remain, Once Remould

Duration:

Nov 03, 2023 - Jan 31, 2024

Opening :

Nov 03, 2023 16:00

<br/>A thing of beauty is a joy forever:<br/>Its loveliness increases; it will never<br/>Pass into nothingness; but still will keep<br/>A bower quiet for us, and a sleep<br/>——John Keats, &lt;Endymion&gt;<br/><br/>Don Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of LI Shan's solo exhibition "A Red, Red Blossom", which will run from September 8 through October 22, 2023. Focusing on a series of vibrant floral and landscape paintings spanning more than 50 years, the exhibition connects LI Shan's work as a prominent member of the avant-garde art collective No Name Art Group in the 1970s and she has been chronicling her travels and adventures on the China frontiers and abroad since she returned to painting. LI Shan's pure and refined brushstrokes have always appeared unconventional in the past and the present. Nevertheless, regardless of the changing surroundings, LI Shan's paintings consistently convey a genuine vitality and classical aesthetics, leaving a profound impact on viewers.<br/><br/><br/>No Name Art Group: <br/>"In the 70s, painting opened a window into the world for my heart"<br/><br/>At the age of 14, LI Shan joined the Wu Ming (No Name) Art Group and became its youngest member. From the late 1950s to the early 1980s, when China was facing severe socio-economic challenges and the cultural scene was monotonous and dreary, the No Name Art Group emerged as the first at-large art collective (in GAO Minglu's words) for Chinese contemporary art [1]. The members of the art group frequently gathered in the outskirts of Beijing to sketch and create artworks, emphasizing the concept of "art for art's sake", consciously distancing themselves from the dominant narratives of the time, and putting forward a brand-new demand for the possibility of presenting contemporaneity. <br/><br/>For the No Name Art Group, landscapes and still lifes hold great importance as their depiction subjects. Landscapes represent the physical reality of nature as well as its spiritual essence. The artists yearned to escape the city and immerse themselves in nature, seeking salvation for both their pure hearts and their artistic pursuits. Still life similarly, "Still life was not seen as something to be artificially arranged, but rather as something to be [actively] discovered" (in ZHANG Wei's words). LI Shan, who was influenced by the No Name Art Group under day-to-day cultivation, fully embraced their artistic interests and ideas. Among these, she has a particular love for painting flowers. Because flowers symbolize and serve as a representation of ideal beauty and purity.<br/><br/>In the 1970s, LI Shan created a collection of paintings that portrayed flowers and landscapes - the Lilacs in the Beijing Botanical Gardens, and the fallen leaves and branches at Fragrant Hill Park - all of which were conscious expressions of her deepest desire for beauty. LI Shan, being a woman, was more delicate than other members of art group. When they were solely drawing garbage bin, LI Shan unconventionally added flowers on the reverse side of the bin. Constrained by the limited material conditions of the time, Untitled, depicting Fragrant Hill Park in autumn, was painted on cardboard pasted with gauze used to make masks, epitomising the qualities of optimism and resilience in the face of adversity.<br/><br/>Landscapes provide artists with a sense of autonomy as they strive to forge their own existence in spite of the established system, incorporating their personal ideals into their creations and crafting extraordinary, distinct realities that deviate from the norm. The "power of existence" is the coherence that emerges from LI Shan's small-scale paintings, which transform fragmented daily experiences into a continuous narrative.[2] Consequently, LI Shan's floral and landscape artworks are not mere reflections or accurate representations of reality, but rather the result of her imaginative and innovative spirit.<br/><br/><br/>Getting Back to Painting: "Painting is part of the good life."<br/><br/>Since the 1970s, LI Shan has likely been the member who is least bothered by and concerned about the absence of formal academic background. Her paintings are always natural and unadorned, omitting detailed textures and depicting the structure of scenes and objects in a flat manner. Her sensitivity to colour and her great talent have been praised by both the members of the art group and the master WU Guanzhong. In the late 1970s, China ushered in a wave of modernisation with comprehensive reform and opening up, leading to significant changes in society and prompting most of the members of the art group to pursue other careers, such as business, and LI Shan was no exception. In 2005, at the age of 48, LI Shan picked up her paintbrushes again, and realised that her former skills and senses swiftly returned, and that "what I couldn't forget had been incorporated into my body, forming a permanent memory." She feels more at ease and liberated now as an independent creator. <br/><br/>Outside of painting, LI Shan's interests extend beyond to overseas travelling, hiking, snowboarding, and other outdoor activities. These pursuits have allowed her to visit various locations such as Xinjiang, England, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Nepal, etc., and her paintings have served as journals for her travels. LI Shan confesses that the concentration and peace she experiences while drawing contrasts sharply with the extroverted, adventurous nature she exhibits in her daily life. Her works, whether still lifes of flowers, vistas of the Tianshan Mountains, or exotic settings, transport the viewer to a realm free of both anger and despair. LI Shan pours her appreciation for beautiful things and love of life onto the canvas, and her works are always bright, warm, and dependable.<br/><br/>According to the German philosopher Hegel, "The mission of art is to reveal the truth in the form of sensual artistic images." LI Shan possesses a remarkable combination of enthusiastic dynamism and introspective tranquility that is rare in our time. She has always been faithful to her own observations, observing the world and feeling the true meaning of life with innocent eyes, expressing different states of mind and emotional feelings in the subtle changes of colours, which has enabled her to maintain her vitality and charm in every successful observation and expression.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>[1] GAO Minglu (Ed.), &lt;The No Name: A History of A Self-Exiled Avant-Garde&gt;, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2007.<br/>[2] WANG Aihe (Ed.), &lt;LI Shan: WU Ming (No Name) Painting Catalogue Vol.2&gt;, Hong Kong University Press, 2009.<br/><br/>

:

LI Shan: A Red, Red Blossom

Duration:

Sep 08, 2023 - Oct 22, 2023

Opening :

Sep 08, 2023 16:00

<br/>A thing of beauty is a joy forever:<br/>Its loveliness increases; it will never<br/>Pass into nothingness; but still will keep<br/>A bower quiet for us, and a sleep<br/>——John Keats, &lt;Endymion&gt;<br/><br/>Don Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of LI Shan's solo exhibition "A Red, Red Blossom", which will run from September 8 through October 22, 2023. Focusing on a series of vibrant floral and landscape paintings spanning more than 50 years, the exhibition connects LI Shan's work as a prominent member of the avant-garde art collective No Name Art Group in the 1970s and she has been chronicling her travels and adventures on the China frontiers and abroad since she returned to painting. LI Shan's pure and refined brushstrokes have always appeared unconventional in the past and the present. Nevertheless, regardless of the changing surroundings, LI Shan's paintings consistently convey a genuine vitality and classical aesthetics, leaving a profound impact on viewers.<br/><br/><br/>No Name Art Group: <br/>"In the 70s, painting opened a window into the world for my heart"<br/><br/>At the age of 14, LI Shan joined the Wu Ming (No Name) Art Group and became its youngest member. From the late 1950s to the early 1980s, when China was facing severe socio-economic challenges and the cultural scene was monotonous and dreary, the No Name Art Group emerged as the first at-large art collective (in GAO Minglu's words) for Chinese contemporary art [1]. The members of the art group frequently gathered in the outskirts of Beijing to sketch and create artworks, emphasizing the concept of "art for art's sake", consciously distancing themselves from the dominant narratives of the time, and putting forward a brand-new demand for the possibility of presenting contemporaneity. <br/><br/>For the No Name Art Group, landscapes and still lifes hold great importance as their depiction subjects. Landscapes represent the physical reality of nature as well as its spiritual essence. The artists yearned to escape the city and immerse themselves in nature, seeking salvation for both their pure hearts and their artistic pursuits. Still life similarly, "Still life was not seen as something to be artificially arranged, but rather as something to be [actively] discovered" (in ZHANG Wei's words). LI Shan, who was influenced by the No Name Art Group under day-to-day cultivation, fully embraced their artistic interests and ideas. Among these, she has a particular love for painting flowers. Because flowers symbolize and serve as a representation of ideal beauty and purity.<br/><br/>In the 1970s, LI Shan created a collection of paintings that portrayed flowers and landscapes - the Lilacs in the Beijing Botanical Gardens, and the fallen leaves and branches at Fragrant Hill Park - all of which were conscious expressions of her deepest desire for beauty. LI Shan, being a woman, was more delicate than other members of art group. When they were solely drawing garbage bin, LI Shan unconventionally added flowers on the reverse side of the bin. Constrained by the limited material conditions of the time, Untitled, depicting Fragrant Hill Park in autumn, was painted on cardboard pasted with gauze used to make masks, epitomising the qualities of optimism and resilience in the face of adversity.<br/><br/>Landscapes provide artists with a sense of autonomy as they strive to forge their own existence in spite of the established system, incorporating their personal ideals into their creations and crafting extraordinary, distinct realities that deviate from the norm. The "power of existence" is the coherence that emerges from LI Shan's small-scale paintings, which transform fragmented daily experiences into a continuous narrative.[2] Consequently, LI Shan's floral and landscape artworks are not mere reflections or accurate representations of reality, but rather the result of her imaginative and innovative spirit.<br/><br/><br/>Getting Back to Painting: "Painting is part of the good life."<br/><br/>Since the 1970s, LI Shan has likely been the member who is least bothered by and concerned about the absence of formal academic background. Her paintings are always natural and unadorned, omitting detailed textures and depicting the structure of scenes and objects in a flat manner. Her sensitivity to colour and her great talent have been praised by both the members of the art group and the master WU Guanzhong. In the late 1970s, China ushered in a wave of modernisation with comprehensive reform and opening up, leading to significant changes in society and prompting most of the members of the art group to pursue other careers, such as business, and LI Shan was no exception. In 2005, at the age of 48, LI Shan picked up her paintbrushes again, and realised that her former skills and senses swiftly returned, and that "what I couldn't forget had been incorporated into my body, forming a permanent memory." She feels more at ease and liberated now as an independent creator. <br/><br/>Outside of painting, LI Shan's interests extend beyond to overseas travelling, hiking, snowboarding, and other outdoor activities. These pursuits have allowed her to visit various locations such as Xinjiang, England, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Nepal, etc., and her paintings have served as journals for her travels. LI Shan confesses that the concentration and peace she experiences while drawing contrasts sharply with the extroverted, adventurous nature she exhibits in her daily life. Her works, whether still lifes of flowers, vistas of the Tianshan Mountains, or exotic settings, transport the viewer to a realm free of both anger and despair. LI Shan pours her appreciation for beautiful things and love of life onto the canvas, and her works are always bright, warm, and dependable.<br/><br/>According to the German philosopher Hegel, "The mission of art is to reveal the truth in the form of sensual artistic images." LI Shan possesses a remarkable combination of enthusiastic dynamism and introspective tranquility that is rare in our time. She has always been faithful to her own observations, observing the world and feeling the true meaning of life with innocent eyes, expressing different states of mind and emotional feelings in the subtle changes of colours, which has enabled her to maintain her vitality and charm in every successful observation and expression.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>[1] GAO Minglu (Ed.), &lt;The No Name: A History of A Self-Exiled Avant-Garde&gt;, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2007.<br/>[2] WANG Aihe (Ed.), &lt;LI Shan: WU Ming (No Name) Painting Catalogue Vol.2&gt;, Hong Kong University Press, 2009.<br/><br/>

:

LI Shan: A Red, Red Blossom

Duration:

Sep 08, 2023 - Oct 22, 2023

Opening :

Sep 08, 2023 16:00

<br/>A thing of beauty is a joy forever:<br/>Its loveliness increases; it will never<br/>Pass into nothingness; but still will keep<br/>A bower quiet for us, and a sleep<br/>——John Keats, &lt;Endymion&gt;<br/><br/>Don Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of LI Shan's solo exhibition "A Red, Red Blossom", which will run from September 8 through October 22, 2023. Focusing on a series of vibrant floral and landscape paintings spanning more than 50 years, the exhibition connects LI Shan's work as a prominent member of the avant-garde art collective No Name Art Group in the 1970s and she has been chronicling her travels and adventures on the China frontiers and abroad since she returned to painting. LI Shan's pure and refined brushstrokes have always appeared unconventional in the past and the present. Nevertheless, regardless of the changing surroundings, LI Shan's paintings consistently convey a genuine vitality and classical aesthetics, leaving a profound impact on viewers.<br/><br/><br/>No Name Art Group: <br/>"In the 70s, painting opened a window into the world for my heart"<br/><br/>At the age of 14, LI Shan joined the Wu Ming (No Name) Art Group and became its youngest member. From the late 1950s to the early 1980s, when China was facing severe socio-economic challenges and the cultural scene was monotonous and dreary, the No Name Art Group emerged as the first at-large art collective (in GAO Minglu's words) for Chinese contemporary art [1]. The members of the art group frequently gathered in the outskirts of Beijing to sketch and create artworks, emphasizing the concept of "art for art's sake", consciously distancing themselves from the dominant narratives of the time, and putting forward a brand-new demand for the possibility of presenting contemporaneity. <br/><br/>For the No Name Art Group, landscapes and still lifes hold great importance as their depiction subjects. Landscapes represent the physical reality of nature as well as its spiritual essence. The artists yearned to escape the city and immerse themselves in nature, seeking salvation for both their pure hearts and their artistic pursuits. Still life similarly, "Still life was not seen as something to be artificially arranged, but rather as something to be [actively] discovered" (in ZHANG Wei's words). LI Shan, who was influenced by the No Name Art Group under day-to-day cultivation, fully embraced their artistic interests and ideas. Among these, she has a particular love for painting flowers. Because flowers symbolize and serve as a representation of ideal beauty and purity.<br/><br/>In the 1970s, LI Shan created a collection of paintings that portrayed flowers and landscapes - the Lilacs in the Beijing Botanical Gardens, and the fallen leaves and branches at Fragrant Hill Park - all of which were conscious expressions of her deepest desire for beauty. LI Shan, being a woman, was more delicate than other members of art group. When they were solely drawing garbage bin, LI Shan unconventionally added flowers on the reverse side of the bin. Constrained by the limited material conditions of the time, Untitled, depicting Fragrant Hill Park in autumn, was painted on cardboard pasted with gauze used to make masks, epitomising the qualities of optimism and resilience in the face of adversity.<br/><br/>Landscapes provide artists with a sense of autonomy as they strive to forge their own existence in spite of the established system, incorporating their personal ideals into their creations and crafting extraordinary, distinct realities that deviate from the norm. The "power of existence" is the coherence that emerges from LI Shan's small-scale paintings, which transform fragmented daily experiences into a continuous narrative.[2] Consequently, LI Shan's floral and landscape artworks are not mere reflections or accurate representations of reality, but rather the result of her imaginative and innovative spirit.<br/><br/><br/>Getting Back to Painting: "Painting is part of the good life."<br/><br/>Since the 1970s, LI Shan has likely been the member who is least bothered by and concerned about the absence of formal academic background. Her paintings are always natural and unadorned, omitting detailed textures and depicting the structure of scenes and objects in a flat manner. Her sensitivity to colour and her great talent have been praised by both the members of the art group and the master WU Guanzhong. In the late 1970s, China ushered in a wave of modernisation with comprehensive reform and opening up, leading to significant changes in society and prompting most of the members of the art group to pursue other careers, such as business, and LI Shan was no exception. In 2005, at the age of 48, LI Shan picked up her paintbrushes again, and realised that her former skills and senses swiftly returned, and that "what I couldn't forget had been incorporated into my body, forming a permanent memory." She feels more at ease and liberated now as an independent creator. <br/><br/>Outside of painting, LI Shan's interests extend beyond to overseas travelling, hiking, snowboarding, and other outdoor activities. These pursuits have allowed her to visit various locations such as Xinjiang, England, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Nepal, etc., and her paintings have served as journals for her travels. LI Shan confesses that the concentration and peace she experiences while drawing contrasts sharply with the extroverted, adventurous nature she exhibits in her daily life. Her works, whether still lifes of flowers, vistas of the Tianshan Mountains, or exotic settings, transport the viewer to a realm free of both anger and despair. LI Shan pours her appreciation for beautiful things and love of life onto the canvas, and her works are always bright, warm, and dependable.<br/><br/>According to the German philosopher Hegel, "The mission of art is to reveal the truth in the form of sensual artistic images." LI Shan possesses a remarkable combination of enthusiastic dynamism and introspective tranquility that is rare in our time. She has always been faithful to her own observations, observing the world and feeling the true meaning of life with innocent eyes, expressing different states of mind and emotional feelings in the subtle changes of colours, which has enabled her to maintain her vitality and charm in every successful observation and expression.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>[1] GAO Minglu (Ed.), &lt;The No Name: A History of A Self-Exiled Avant-Garde&gt;, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2007.<br/>[2] WANG Aihe (Ed.), &lt;LI Shan: WU Ming (No Name) Painting Catalogue Vol.2&gt;, Hong Kong University Press, 2009.<br/><br/>

:

LI Shan: A Red, Red Blossom

Duration:

Sep 08, 2023 - Oct 22, 2023

Opening :

Sep 08, 2023 16:00

<br/><br/>Hippocampus Capsule features paintings, installations, and sculptures by artists CAO Zaifei, CHANG Ling, GUO Haiqiang, LI Shan, LIU Ren, LU Song, WANG Ningde, WU Houting, ZHANG Peiyun, ZHANG Ruyi, ZHANG Yunyao, James CARL and Kumi Usui at Don Gallery on July 8, 2023. Thirty pieces of works are placed in the gallery space to illustrate the theme "Hippocampus Capsule" reflectively.<br/><br/>In neuroscience, the hippocampus is hidden within the brain's temporal lobe. The earliest description of the hippocampus comes from the Venetian anatomist Julius Caesar Aranzi (1587), who likened it first to a seahorse. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system. It plays essential roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, stringing together past and future, and in spatial memory that enables navigation. Through a retrospective of the artists' works created between 2011 and 2022, Hippocampus Capsule suggests the extension, transformation and change of their concepts and hints at intertwined and complementary socio-historical narrative contexts.<br/><br/>Hippocampus Capsule coalesces GUO Haiqiang, LIU Ren, LU Song, WANG Ningde and ZHANG Yunyao's works and hints at the artists' unifying and continually deepening thematics, respectively. GUO Haiqiang infuses sculptural structure into painting, with a sense of relief and installation formed by branches and stacked oil paint, as he meditates on and traces four seasons of Zhongnan Mountain, leading us to the memories that should belong to the natural. The dual characteristics implied in LIU Ren's work - temporality and presence - are continuously explored and reinterpreted in his practice. In Panta Rhei, the images of ocean resonate with the phrase's original meaning- "everything flows" – "although nothing is eternal, yesterday may appear once more in the memory." LU Song's works are inspired by different literary art forms such as fiction, film and theatre, conveying a complex sensory experience in deconstructing and reconstructing images; the work inspires multiple narratives within the same thread of memory. From Form of Light to Photogram, WANG Ningde engages with photography through photography's philosophical ontology and experimentation between light, shadow and images; as Susan Sontag notes, "A photograph is not just an image (as a painting is an image), an interpretation of the real; it is also a trace, something topographic directly from the real, like a footprint or a model of a dead person's face." The influence of Greek sculptures is evident in ZHANG Yunyao's felted paintings, where images and tactile memories of classical painting's contrapposto and the flesh carved out of marble are inextricably linked to his work.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the figure of the "hippocampus" appears in Greek mythology - Poseidon, God of the Sea, was carried across the oceans in a chariot pulled by hippocampi (ἱππόκαμπος), sometimes it diving deep underwater and galloping on the waves. In Hippocampus Capsule, the monster transforms into a creature with a syncretic history and memory of its time, lurking beneath the works of CAO Zaifei, LI Shan, WU Houting, ZHANG Peiyun, and ZHANG Ruyi. CAO Zaifei conceals and diffuses philosophical ideas with classical and modern sensitivity, considering the metaphysics of the ancient Greek period and the contemporary human life dilemma beneath his subversion of utilitarian rationality and the dramatic absurdity of objects and people. It involves a reevaluation of ancient Greek metaphysics and the existential conundrum facing modern people. LI Shan practised art as a member of the No Name Art Group during the 1970s, an underground organization to face and resist the high political oppression during the Cultural Revolution, set itself apart from mainstream social and political background ideology and pursuits their concepts and definitions of truth, goodness, and beauty. In WU Houting's sculptures, the spatiality, timeliness, and limits of the sculptures' shapes reveal the gaps created during the production and shipment of everyday commodities and products. In dismantling and exposing the restrictive environments inhabited by commodity products, WU reflects the mythos of production and life in contemporary society. ZHANG Peiyun's In The Garden features the Classical era's order beneath contemporary forms and reexamines the "Garden" as the starting point for human beings and the public field where heaviness, lightness, brokenness, and restoration all contribute to creating a peaceful and soft dwelling place that demonstrates the artist's tenderness and kindness towards all things hidden within. From industrial products to everyday objects- construction sites, tile, cement, and plants, ZHANG Ruyi's work implies a detachment from the practicality and functionality of the material. And then, formulated into her contemplate upon entanglement, suppression, isolation, and a spectacle of complete control among human beings and the modern urban space in which we live.<br/><br/>In Hippocampus Capsule, we travel together on a chariot pulled by a Hippocampus- the works of artists; its dolphin-like tail leads us to dive deeper into the ocean constructed by the works and touch the dust of memory deposited underwater, while the horse-like body of Hippocampus allows us to step on the ocean and leap with us into the irresistible and unceasingly sound of waves of the historical narratives.<br/>

:

Group Exhibition「Hippocampus Capsule」

Duration:

Jul 08, 2023 - Aug 31, 2023

Opening :

Jul 08, 2023 16:00

<br/><br/>Hippocampus Capsule features paintings, installations, and sculptures by artists CAO Zaifei, CHANG Ling, GUO Haiqiang, LI Shan, LIU Ren, LU Song, WANG Ningde, WU Houting, ZHANG Peiyun, ZHANG Ruyi, ZHANG Yunyao, James CARL and Kumi Usui at Don Gallery on July 8, 2023. Thirty pieces of works are placed in the gallery space to illustrate the theme "Hippocampus Capsule" reflectively.<br/><br/>In neuroscience, the hippocampus is hidden within the brain's temporal lobe. The earliest description of the hippocampus comes from the Venetian anatomist Julius Caesar Aranzi (1587), who likened it first to a seahorse. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system. It plays essential roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, stringing together past and future, and in spatial memory that enables navigation. Through a retrospective of the artists' works created between 2011 and 2022, Hippocampus Capsule suggests the extension, transformation and change of their concepts and hints at intertwined and complementary socio-historical narrative contexts.<br/><br/>Hippocampus Capsule coalesces GUO Haiqiang, LIU Ren, LU Song, WANG Ningde and ZHANG Yunyao's works and hints at the artists' unifying and continually deepening thematics, respectively. GUO Haiqiang infuses sculptural structure into painting, with a sense of relief and installation formed by branches and stacked oil paint, as he meditates on and traces four seasons of Zhongnan Mountain, leading us to the memories that should belong to the natural. The dual characteristics implied in LIU Ren's work - temporality and presence - are continuously explored and reinterpreted in his practice. In Panta Rhei, the images of ocean resonate with the phrase's original meaning- "everything flows" – "although nothing is eternal, yesterday may appear once more in the memory." LU Song's works are inspired by different literary art forms such as fiction, film and theatre, conveying a complex sensory experience in deconstructing and reconstructing images; the work inspires multiple narratives within the same thread of memory. From Form of Light to Photogram, WANG Ningde engages with photography through photography's philosophical ontology and experimentation between light, shadow and images; as Susan Sontag notes, "A photograph is not just an image (as a painting is an image), an interpretation of the real; it is also a trace, something topographic directly from the real, like a footprint or a model of a dead person's face." The influence of Greek sculptures is evident in ZHANG Yunyao's felted paintings, where images and tactile memories of classical painting's contrapposto and the flesh carved out of marble are inextricably linked to his work.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the figure of the "hippocampus" appears in Greek mythology - Poseidon, God of the Sea, was carried across the oceans in a chariot pulled by hippocampi (ἱππόκαμπος), sometimes it diving deep underwater and galloping on the waves. In Hippocampus Capsule, the monster transforms into a creature with a syncretic history and memory of its time, lurking beneath the works of CAO Zaifei, LI Shan, WU Houting, ZHANG Peiyun, and ZHANG Ruyi. CAO Zaifei conceals and diffuses philosophical ideas with classical and modern sensitivity, considering the metaphysics of the ancient Greek period and the contemporary human life dilemma beneath his subversion of utilitarian rationality and the dramatic absurdity of objects and people. It involves a reevaluation of ancient Greek metaphysics and the existential conundrum facing modern people. LI Shan practised art as a member of the No Name Art Group during the 1970s, an underground organization to face and resist the high political oppression during the Cultural Revolution, set itself apart from mainstream social and political background ideology and pursuits their concepts and definitions of truth, goodness, and beauty. In WU Houting's sculptures, the spatiality, timeliness, and limits of the sculptures' shapes reveal the gaps created during the production and shipment of everyday commodities and products. In dismantling and exposing the restrictive environments inhabited by commodity products, WU reflects the mythos of production and life in contemporary society. ZHANG Peiyun's In The Garden features the Classical era's order beneath contemporary forms and reexamines the "Garden" as the starting point for human beings and the public field where heaviness, lightness, brokenness, and restoration all contribute to creating a peaceful and soft dwelling place that demonstrates the artist's tenderness and kindness towards all things hidden within. From industrial products to everyday objects- construction sites, tile, cement, and plants, ZHANG Ruyi's work implies a detachment from the practicality and functionality of the material. And then, formulated into her contemplate upon entanglement, suppression, isolation, and a spectacle of complete control among human beings and the modern urban space in which we live.<br/><br/>In Hippocampus Capsule, we travel together on a chariot pulled by a Hippocampus- the works of artists; its dolphin-like tail leads us to dive deeper into the ocean constructed by the works and touch the dust of memory deposited underwater, while the horse-like body of Hippocampus allows us to step on the ocean and leap with us into the irresistible and unceasingly sound of waves of the historical narratives.<br/>

:

Group Exhibition「Hippocampus Capsule」

Duration:

Jul 08, 2023 - Aug 31, 2023

Opening :

Jul 08, 2023 16:00

<br/><br/>Hippocampus Capsule features paintings, installations, and sculptures by artists CAO Zaifei, CHANG Ling, GUO Haiqiang, LI Shan, LIU Ren, LU Song, WANG Ningde, WU Houting, ZHANG Peiyun, ZHANG Ruyi, ZHANG Yunyao, James CARL and Kumi Usui at Don Gallery on July 8, 2023. Thirty pieces of works are placed in the gallery space to illustrate the theme "Hippocampus Capsule" reflectively.<br/><br/>In neuroscience, the hippocampus is hidden within the brain's temporal lobe. The earliest description of the hippocampus comes from the Venetian anatomist Julius Caesar Aranzi (1587), who likened it first to a seahorse. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system. It plays essential roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, stringing together past and future, and in spatial memory that enables navigation. Through a retrospective of the artists' works created between 2011 and 2022, Hippocampus Capsule suggests the extension, transformation and change of their concepts and hints at intertwined and complementary socio-historical narrative contexts.<br/><br/>Hippocampus Capsule coalesces GUO Haiqiang, LIU Ren, LU Song, WANG Ningde and ZHANG Yunyao's works and hints at the artists' unifying and continually deepening thematics, respectively. GUO Haiqiang infuses sculptural structure into painting, with a sense of relief and installation formed by branches and stacked oil paint, as he meditates on and traces four seasons of Zhongnan Mountain, leading us to the memories that should belong to the natural. The dual characteristics implied in LIU Ren's work - temporality and presence - are continuously explored and reinterpreted in his practice. In Panta Rhei, the images of ocean resonate with the phrase's original meaning- "everything flows" – "although nothing is eternal, yesterday may appear once more in the memory." LU Song's works are inspired by different literary art forms such as fiction, film and theatre, conveying a complex sensory experience in deconstructing and reconstructing images; the work inspires multiple narratives within the same thread of memory. From Form of Light to Photogram, WANG Ningde engages with photography through photography's philosophical ontology and experimentation between light, shadow and images; as Susan Sontag notes, "A photograph is not just an image (as a painting is an image), an interpretation of the real; it is also a trace, something topographic directly from the real, like a footprint or a model of a dead person's face." The influence of Greek sculptures is evident in ZHANG Yunyao's felted paintings, where images and tactile memories of classical painting's contrapposto and the flesh carved out of marble are inextricably linked to his work.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the figure of the "hippocampus" appears in Greek mythology - Poseidon, God of the Sea, was carried across the oceans in a chariot pulled by hippocampi (ἱππόκαμπος), sometimes it diving deep underwater and galloping on the waves. In Hippocampus Capsule, the monster transforms into a creature with a syncretic history and memory of its time, lurking beneath the works of CAO Zaifei, LI Shan, WU Houting, ZHANG Peiyun, and ZHANG Ruyi. CAO Zaifei conceals and diffuses philosophical ideas with classical and modern sensitivity, considering the metaphysics of the ancient Greek period and the contemporary human life dilemma beneath his subversion of utilitarian rationality and the dramatic absurdity of objects and people. It involves a reevaluation of ancient Greek metaphysics and the existential conundrum facing modern people. LI Shan practised art as a member of the No Name Art Group during the 1970s, an underground organization to face and resist the high political oppression during the Cultural Revolution, set itself apart from mainstream social and political background ideology and pursuits their concepts and definitions of truth, goodness, and beauty. In WU Houting's sculptures, the spatiality, timeliness, and limits of the sculptures' shapes reveal the gaps created during the production and shipment of everyday commodities and products. In dismantling and exposing the restrictive environments inhabited by commodity products, WU reflects the mythos of production and life in contemporary society. ZHANG Peiyun's In The Garden features the Classical era's order beneath contemporary forms and reexamines the "Garden" as the starting point for human beings and the public field where heaviness, lightness, brokenness, and restoration all contribute to creating a peaceful and soft dwelling place that demonstrates the artist's tenderness and kindness towards all things hidden within. From industrial products to everyday objects- construction sites, tile, cement, and plants, ZHANG Ruyi's work implies a detachment from the practicality and functionality of the material. And then, formulated into her contemplate upon entanglement, suppression, isolation, and a spectacle of complete control among human beings and the modern urban space in which we live.<br/><br/>In Hippocampus Capsule, we travel together on a chariot pulled by a Hippocampus- the works of artists; its dolphin-like tail leads us to dive deeper into the ocean constructed by the works and touch the dust of memory deposited underwater, while the horse-like body of Hippocampus allows us to step on the ocean and leap with us into the irresistible and unceasingly sound of waves of the historical narratives.<br/>

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Group Exhibition「Hippocampus Capsule」

Duration:

Jul 08, 2023 - Aug 31, 2023

Opening :

Jul 08, 2023 16:00

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