The 11thChina International Gallery Exposition (CIGE) takes place from October 8 to October 11, 2015, at the China National Convention Center, Beijing. Tina Keng Gallery is pleased to presentTranscendence,a solo exhibition of Chen Chun-Hao (b. 1971), which highlights multiple signature pieces by the artist, as well as his latest large-scale work that pays tribute to late Ming-dynasty painter Wu Bin.
Beginning in 1997, Chen adopted mass-produced industrial thumbtacks as an artistic medium in his practice, before he shifted toward mosquito nails (headless metal pins) in 2009. Using a nail gun commonly found in woodworking and construction, Chen creates reproductions of ancient Chinese shanshuipaintings. The earliest and most notable piece in this series is Imitating Early Spring by Guo Xiin Song Dynasty(2010). Sparse and dense, mosquito nails are meticulously layered and displayed on white canvas, manifesting the wrinkled texture (cun) technique and evoking the essential spirit (qi) in traditional ink painting. Through discernible historical traces in his compositions, the artist, with his painterly narrative of nearly a decade, encourages the viewer to ponder cultural and historical identity beyond disciplinary boundaries.
For Chen Chun-Hao, the formation of a thick texture similar to sculptural or three-dimensional installations can only be achieved through intense labor and precise practice that enables each mosquito nail to stand erect and secure on canvas. The degree of difficulty surpasses that of using ink and various texture techniques, and opens up new possibilities for multifaceted viewing. Gazing upon the ordered arrangement of mosquito nails, the viewer seems to be walking in a forest and through the mistin search of quietude and beauty,while chancing upon waterfalls. The layering and organization of the composition can be further appreciated when the viewer retreats to a certain distance that amplifies the direct visual impact of the majestic mountains, like dragons in flight.
In addition to landscapes, Chen Chun-Hao expands his creative themeto the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Though rarely seen in traditional Chinese paintings, these animalshavefiguredoccasionally as subjects during the modern era in the works of Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Yang Shanshen, and other master painters. However, Chen does not directly invokethe complete catalogues of any one of these painters, but seeks according to the aesthetic experience and interests of each artist, to find each of the animals as they appear in a number of ancient paintings, before he combines them to create his own expanded volume.This re-appropriation, emulation and recreation of the original works createa suspension in the visual narrative, further subverting and rejuvenating its narrative meaning.
For Chen Chun-Hao, “likeness is unlike likeness; unlikeness is like likeness” aptly describes his inventive recombining and substituting between texture and media. There is an unexpected transformation in objects at first glance in his work, then comes a fair sense of liberation. What he attempts to capture through his mosquito nail shanshuiis not merely transcendence in the context of contemporary art, but perhaps also an internal Peach Blossom Spring that cannot be easily intruded upon by outsiders.