On October 15, 2016, “Untitled Commemoration – Exhibition of Tang Hui’s New Works” opened in Hongkun Museum of Fine Art. This is the ninth solo exhibition by Tang Hui. The exhibition displays four series of new works: Herbal Series, Nara Deer Series, Monument Series and Landscape Series.
CAFA ART INFO: How do you comprehend the theme of “Untitled Commemoration”? It is a simple logic that it is a well-known thing to be commemorated with our cultural background; or an unknown thing that becomes famous after commemoration. Is this the meaning of the “untitled”, or does it mean the inexplicable?Tang Hui: The theme of “Untitled Commemoration” is from the curator Li Xu. When I got the theme, I just felt it closely linked with my creations in recent years.
I am a person who likes to observe the details, if I am surrounded by the environment that is full of details, I will be too excited and go crazy, I enjoy the pleasure, on the other hand, the perfect pursuit of details will make me attend to trifles and neglect the essentials, and I find myself moving towards the ultimate decorative side, which is naturally finished.
I used to create things and being tired of the truth I can see, the excitement of creation is my driving force, although the Nara Deer is alive, it is still a landscape in my creation.
There is a class that adores the noble and solemn aesthetics, because these things were absent in my living environment, I have created some Buddha statues for some time, and I was greatly inspired by the creative process. The haze of the great-power of chauvinism has been lingering in the memory from my childhood, and I extracted an “artistic conception” from it, this aesthetic gave mea hint of melancholy, but I did not specifically avoid it. Monument Series was discovered in this inspiration, and I could often find the happy self-confidence from the solemn sense of the work when I finished one piece. The democratic mood in the inner depth is released, of course, I can’t judge what this is, but just think that I need these at this stage, so as to commemorate these emotions.
CAFA ART INFO: Is there a relationship between the four series – Herbal Series, Nara Deer Series, Monument Series and Landscape Series?Tang Hui: The four series are not associated with each other, and it presents different demands from different time stages, which is like my thinking process, the jumping and fragment-like style of thinking, and sometimes there is no margin. Each series is a new start. I enjoy the fun of re-start, and I often position myself as an artist who just starts to create, I like to challenge the unknown areas during the creation.
CAFA ART INFO: What is the individual experience of “commemoration” of the ordinary?
Tang Hui: I like the concept of models and specimens, as well as trivial things, when we give it a different platform it will be a qualitative change. Each original creation is a memorial to that stage of my life.
CAFA ART INFO: It shows the latest creation “Herbal Series”, which also contains the image of “deer”, that is different from the previous slender, sensitive, natural “Nara Deer”. What is the relationship between Herbal Series and Nara Deer Series?Tang Hui: The curator Tian Kai said I was a vegetarian, and the works are a carnival of herbivores. The flow in the works are my drawings rather than the natural flows, being both tears and streams. It was inspired by “Cordyceps sinensis”, and I was fascinated with the conversion between plants and animals, and the color relationship at the same time, seemingly the sense of touching the object at night.
CAFA ART INFO: Many of your previous works have a sense of history, and a sense of future, such as the fantasy works in your installation. After the “Nara Deer”, your works seem to bring yourself to the screen, and offer more warmth. Did you carry a lot of things when you were young, or do you gradually removesome things that did not really belong to you when you were older?Tang Hui: My art resume started from the ‘85 New Wave, and I was easily positioned as a surreal artist, when I encountered artist friends each time, they would tell me they were full of pity and question me why I did not paint the original imaginative works with mechanical themes, it is a difficult question for me to answer. I think that stage has gone, that was my interest in the late 1990s. In my aesthetic experience, I refuse to being drawn by the grand narrative and ridiculous thoughts, but admire the targeted approach.
Move with my heart, move away from the problems such as the positioning of art history, the Eastern and Western controversy, contemporary and traditional values. I always feel that I am empty, nothing deserves adhering, I do not have any artistic achievement, and I travel without any burden.
Text by Zhang Wenzhi, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO, Photo courtesy of the artist
About the exhibition
Title: “Untitled Commemoration” Exhibition of Tang Hui’s New Works
Duration: October 15, 2016 - November 20, 2016 (closed on Monday)
Opening time: October 15, 2016 (Saturday) 15:00
Host: Hongkun Museum of Fine Art
Planning: Tian Kai
Exhibition responsible person: Zhao Mengyuan
Exhibition assistances: Cui Zhen, Zhang Yan, Zhang Hanpu, Yu Yutian, Pan Xiaohua
