Cloudy: Group Exhibition

Don Gallery will be presenting the group exhibition, “Cloudy,” to audiences this summer. The show will explore whether the ambiguous and volatile surface of contemporary society obscures a more stable core of human consciousness and emotion through the various facets of work from 11 artists, including a.f.art theatreFangLing, CHANG Ling, HU Zi, HU Weiyi, LI Shan, LU Song, LIU Ren, QU Fengguo, XIANG Zhenhua, ZHANG Ruyi, and ZHANG Yunyao.

“Cloudy” is a meteorological state containing rich allusions to human affairs. The symbolism of “Clouds” is multidimensional, and oft-used in literature and art. Frequently seen in landscapes and drama alike, clouds create atmosphere and foreshadow impending narrative twists. 
The history of eastern and western art have taken similar journeys. Since the advent of modernity, artists have been fragmenting within the tradition of creative expression through “expressing emotion through scenery” -- a tradition that is, perhaps, alive and well today. As artistic mediums and contexts transform, “expressing emotion through scenery” has also taken on new meaning, a dual exploration of “art” and “reality.”

QU Fengguo closely interweaves changing seasons and human behavior, intervening between so-called “fleeting moments” and the “natural course of things.” Through his continuous labors, random moments coalesce into “seasons.” While LU Song embarks via “scenery” upon a textual exploration of the story. Plants curtain an entangling, atmospheric space, where “terror” and “fragility” intertwine and loosen. LI Shan’s courtyards, pagodas, and mountains are full of the textures of life, yet they are mostly empty of people. It is as if the individuals who inhabit these spaces have stepped out of frame, resulting in canvases where “absence” and “presence” interplay.

Clouds -- their smoky, diffuse imagery -- have permeated humanity’s myths and modernity as an ancient yet urgent reminder of time. The lifestyles made possible by information technology have conferred even more functions and contexts to “clouds,” which continue to dot the skies and horizons of humanity’s ideals and dreamscapes.

These new interpretations remain closely intertwined with the material state of clouds -- drifting and changeable, clouds transform in our imaginations, and hold the constructs of our minds. They inhabit an abstract existence, yet we are constantly aware of their potential impact, and attempt to decipher the unknowable through what clouds may hide and display.
Our sensitivity to the weather forms an internal portrayal of our environment. As a contemporary artist in Shanghai, ZHANG Ruyi maintains a sensitivity to the phenomena of urban construction and “migration.” The movement of people and buildings transcends the subject of migration, affecting the individuals and objects comprising the urban network in its entirety. Through a unique method, HU Weiyi transforms a massive unknown object into a “net,” which ingeniously captures “nature” within itself.

“Clouds” are the worldly manifestation of the divine. Within culture, they connect different times and spaces; through tangible moisture and movement, they sweep away barriers between realms, and thus, “clouds” symbolize connection. In a sense, the artist’s identity is like a “cloud,” because artists continually expand the horizons of “truth.” 

XIANG Zhenhua works with images from advertisements to present the “consumption” and “depletion” concurrent in a consumerist society. LIU Ren continues a lyrical and analytical interpretation of textual and visual imagery. Continuing to work with the medium of “toilet paper,” the artist employs the medium like a comedian. Through his expression, fragments of daily life are developed into sarcastic grammar and everyday scenes. HU Zi, ZHANG Yunyao, and other artists continue to seek out the common ground between the stability of identity and emotional outbursts by exploring portraiture within diverse cultural contexts. CHANG Ling’s Illusion Society series transforms painting into a “perilous” yet stately behavioral record through an attitude of “creation in action.” a.f.art theatreFangLing’s work revolves around the conjectures of alienation and theatricality, the boundaries of dramatic experience, and a response to human contingencies within a broader context.

|“Cloudy” is held jointly by Don Gallery and Shanghai Guangqi Culture Industry Investment Development Co., Ltd.