About the Exhibition

By Luan Zhichao

How to re-establish order in chaos and how to explore the possibility of chaos in order - these are the two major themes proposed in Ye Hongxing’s “numeral series” and Nan Chuan Dao Sheng’s “Construction” and “Still Life” series, though they two work this out in their creations via different approaches: In terms of materials, Ye Hongxing uses plastic cartoon stickers to collage as background and gilded three-dimensional objects to collage as the main image, while Nan Chuan Dao Sheng applies common oil painting materials on canvas. In terms of technique, the former is more precise, and the collage is done delicately by hand based on a given image to form a specific image, while the latter is more like a trial, letting the image gradually take shape in the process of overlapping brush strokes. In terms of images, the former seems more classical, with specific imagery, while the latter seems more modern, leaving the viewer with more possibilities to shape an image. But in fact, despite the obvious differences between their new works on the figurative level, they seem to tread on different paths to a certain extent, but in fact they are reaching for the same goal.

Ye Hongxing uses basic elements to structure the composition of the picture: square, circle, numeral, and golden bumps like reliefs attached to large black and white images. The images as background include traditional Chinese symbols, such as auspicious clouds, ripples, phoenixes, dragons, peonies, grass and leaves, flying cranes, fish, etc., as well as Western and modern images such as the son of God, monitors, airplanes, ships, guns, tanks, etc. These overlapping and juxtaposed images are attached important meanings in daily life and culture, yet they are collaged with cheap cartoon stickers, a kind of miniature plastic products common in Yiwu's small commodity market. The circles and Arabic numerals in the circles are attached to the surface of the canvas, and the gold and its luster appear to be more important than the background images largely in black and white, but they are actually collage of cheap three-dimensional objects - images of seemingly clear and important messages are in fact made of thousands of cheap objects. Moreover, the cartoon stickers and three-dimensional objects are mostly animals or popular images and language expressions. The Arabic numerals that are the subject of these works can be considered, in a way, an international language that can refer to everything, be arranged and combined in any context. However, when there is no context, the numerals are just numbers: an empty numerical symbol. Nan Chuan Dao Sheng uses a few colors to structure the composition of the picture: red, white, black, and blue, which eventually form areas of color with blurred edges or distorted shapes that are about to deformation; the images are of abstract expressionism style tension, yet seemingly surrealistic; looking like contemporary urban architectures, but also future cyberpunk cities, or a castle in a fairy tale book, or a landscape painting by some ancient Chinese literati. The images are kind of in developing, emerging on the canvas gradually in the brushstrokes. Yet, when a completed image is about to take shape, it always breaks down its own existing appearance or is destroyed by the next stroke and goes to another imagery. Viewing such images is like watching phantom. The flat background is cut by vertical blocks of color, hence is transferring into gaps, or the shadow casts of the foreground, thus breaking the balance between the foreground and the background, which are supposed to highlight each other - the result is that, the background attempts to squeeze out of the gaps, while the foreground attempts to hide in the background, integrating and  interfering with each other. These strokes and images are driven more by emotions than by a certain imagery or signifier. They seem to be in the same conspiracy and at the same time in the deconstruction of each other.

Whether it is the elements of the image, the image itself, or the reference of the image, on the one hand, they try to construct a signified, coded image through many elements or brush strokes, and on the other hand, they try to deconstruct these images into an ambiguous, chaotic world of symbols or colors. These works are always in a state of self-suspension, being self-justified and self-criticizing, co-existing and contradicting, joining and escaping because of the continuous construction and deconstruction. This situation, when is concerned with their artistic approach - whether it is the collage of countless images or the constant attempt of brush strokes - is in a way fundamentally a symptom of existential plight experience in this era, that is, how to re-establish order in chaos and how to explore the possibility of chaos in order.

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