Night Gallery is pleased to present Illusion: Cheng Ran, Huang Yuxing, Xue Feng, curated by Shi Zheng. The exhibition will feature painting, photography and video works, and will be the gallery's first collaboration with artists from China. Illusion will open July 1st, and remain on view through July 30th.
The title of the exhibition gives a subtle nod to Metamorphoses, by the Roman poet Ovid. The poem tells the story of Pygmalion, a Cypriot sculptor, who falls in love with a sculpture he has carved out of ivory. Lovesick, he prays to the goddess Aphrodite to bring the sculpture to life. Returning to his studio, he kisses the sculpture and feels the warmth of a living being. Had Aphrodite, moved by Pygmalion's love and passion for the sculpture, granted his wish? Or was this an illusion? The works of Cheng Ran, Huang Yuxing and Xue Feng are materially seductive, while playfully operating at a subliminal, subconscious level. Illusion is a fundamental element in the work of all three.
Huang Yuxing and Xue Feng have both created new paintings for this exhibition, meditations on nature and human intervention rendered in unnatural neon colors. Both artists offer a surrealist vision in two distinct tones: Huang Yuxing’s fiery color schemes and unrecognizable architectural forms strike a dystopic note, whereas the diffuse gradients and leaf-like gestures in Xue Feng’s paintings are a softer contemplation on the coexistence of nature and human-designed spaces.
Cheng Ran’s disjointed videos hint at nonlinear narratives which are fragmented across multiple works. Two videos are included in the exhibition, Angels of the Millennium - Number Six, 2012, and The Fundamentals of Piano, 2014, alongside still images taken from his 2014 video Always I Trust. Both his still photographs and videos address cultural appropriations between the West and China, and notions of cultural authenticity brought into question by forged or bootlegged items.
Cheng Ran was born in 1981 in Inner Mongolia, and currently lives in Hangzhou. In 2013 he was a resident at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, and his recent exhibitions include the Istanbul Biennial and solo shows at K11 Art Foundation in Hong Kong, and at Galerie Urs Meile in Lucerne, Switzerland, and Beijing, China.
Huang Yuxing was born in 1975 in Beijing, where he currently lives and works. Recent exhibitions include a solo museum exhibition at Minsheng Museum Shanghai; a solo project at Yuz Museum, Shanghai; Antenna Space, Shanghai; Star Gallery, Beijing; and Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong.
Xue Feng was born in 1973 in Zhejiang Province in Southern China. He is represented by Boers-Li Gallery in Beijing, and lives in Hangzhou, China.