XIONG YU

Xiong Yu‘s paintings always start with a specific and subtle feeling, or a partial and fragmented thinking. Painting becomes a continuation of these feelings and reflections, then the final image is actually the solidification of this process, a temporary result. This exhibition highlights the theme of his visual metaphors: searching for the individual independence and detachment from the common experiences that created by the times. Sculpture-like melancholy portraits, circulating water and clouds, or abstract light and inexplicable stones—these metaphorical illustrations have reappeared in Xiong Yu’s artistic creations in recent years. They imply that Xiong Yu has applied the traditional Oriental view of nature in the path of finding himself. The huge painted wall presented this time have created a new image expression, and this all-in-one-go painting image tries to introduce the audiences into a huge illusory world, which makes the illusionary somehow alive and real.

Most of Xiong Yu’s works are oil paintings on canvas, and the painting elements and visual images have become his main artistic approach. His unique image symbols have already brought quite attentions to him in his early artistic career. However, he is an ambitious active painter who has been experimenting on integrating image expression with new medias for many year, and he has also trying to build an innovative model of painting languages. In different studios, he attempts to experiment and play with different painting techniques. In his silk screen studio, he applies the common traditional printmaking medium of silk screen to test the re-construction of his paintings. For instance, after a simple modification, the silk screen device can even be used as a material test for large sizes. While in his oil painting studio, it is much more traditional with a large number of recent ink paintings on paper. For him, these paintings have been the expressing means of keeping his thoughts fresh and alive.

The works of this exhibition involve several key words of Xiong Yu’s paintings—‘image metaphor’, ‘reconstruction of memory’, ‘circulation’, ‘the oriental view of nature’ and ‘sculpture-like melancholy’. To highlight the motifs that the artist intends to express, there will be a huge wall painted by ink exhibited in the space. In Xiong Yu’s words, there is no ‘conflict’ between different medias and image expressions, he is only describing the same ‘circulation’ in different ways. This ‘circulation’ comes from the poetic relationship between his inner self and the external reality.