| The life of an artist is one of constant negotiation with uncertainty. The financial market thrives on overcoming and subduing uncertainty. Throughout history, in times of global economic and social uncertainty like those we are currently undergoing, it is the creative community and individuals who are motivated to propose and work through new ideas that bring about the change we all desire, but few articulate. In anticipating the tremendous renewal on the brink, it gives us reassurance to put forth this exhibition Bloom in Gloom, featuring the works of six emerging talents from China: Deng Bin, Deng Yu, Huang Zheng, Lu Pei, Mei Zijia, and Mo Di. With intimate language, Huang Zheng captures the ambiguous identity of the female subject by observing, voyeuring, analyzing, and translating what he sees in order to question the social construct of a woman. |  |
Aenon Loo
The life of an artist is one of constant negotiation with uncertainty. The financial market thrives on overcoming and subduing uncertainty. Throughout history, in times of global economic and social uncertainty like those we are currently undergoing, it is the creative community and individuals who are motivated to propose and work through new ideas that bring about the change we all desire, but few articulate. In anticipating the tremendous renewal on the brink, it gives us reassurance to put forth this exhibition Bloom in Gloom, featuring the works of six emerging talents from China: Deng Bin, Deng Yu, Huang Zheng, Lu Pei, Mei Zijia, and Mo Di.
With intimate language, Huang Zheng captures the ambiguous identity of the female subject by observing, voyeuring, analyzing, and translating what he sees in order to question the social construct of a woman. Such fixation is carried out by painting detailed close-ups of a woman whose body and mind are in bondage. The paintings of Deng Yu are filled with fashionable fantasy and manga-ish sensibility. Her fluid yet precise compositions make free use of pop icons and symbols to achieve a subtle and virtual world of endearing colors. With melancholic tone and impressionistic color palate, Deng Bin reveals the solitary and petty side of being human. His works evoke an uncertain undercurrent of fear and anxiety. Lu Pei employs the language of abject realism. By depicting the accumulation of discarded cigarette butts in a burnt plastic bottle, he humbly observes and draws with care that which is not loved. It arouses in us a disquieting feeling of helplessness in the face of the abandoned. There are hints and early signs of a Chinese Gothic style emerging in Mei Zijia’s violent and enigmatic paintings. The overlapping layers of black-and-white photo imagery are brought into sharp contrast with the multihued, dizzying conglomeration of fragmented anatomic figures, flowers, butterflies, newspaper clippings, and cartoon icons. Mo Di colorfully portrays the hesitancy of a teenager in search of self-identity. The possibility of youthfulness—be it introverted, self-doubting, confident, or even narcissistic—is brought into play.
These six artists, born in the 1980s, came of age during China’s reform and opening up. They have experienced the rise of commodity culture and the disillusionment it brought along. They search for substance beyond a lifestyle of accumulating disposables. They are young but not naïve. They are brave but not brash. They are willing to dig deeper into themselves and confront what is ugly, in fragile trust that providence will redeem what others have rejected. Through their work and ideas, we are given an opportunity to reflect on the condition of life seen through their individual slice of reality. They invite us to think hard and question where we stand. They bid us to hope amidst hopelessness. They bloom in gloom.
