GUO HONGWEI

All traces of origins eventually point to a concern with the present reality. Drawing upon the aesthetic frameworks and cultural genes accumulated by traditions and generations, Guo transforms the sublime objects into natural ones, allowing the imposing and the reclusive subjects to recede in favor of individual reflection. He seeks to connect consensus within a shared visual cultural framework, approaching it by “using stones from other mountains to polish jade”—evoking universal perception and resonance amid the heterogeneity that transcends time and predetermined attributes. In his frames, figures and objects seem indistinct, and the specific references are increasingly blurred. It is precisely in this ambiguity that synesthesia quietly emerges. Guo constructs a bridge between natural history and everyday reality through such method. The structure of minerals and the form of figures become traces, images, and metaphors within the image scene, conversing into and influencing one another. He orchestrates perception through the rules of “form,” which serves as a direct confrontation of the discord of reality and genuine feeling.

Ultimately, Guo’s paintings reflect a reality where subjectivity is gradually dissipating. While we strive to emphasize how to construct subjectivity, Guo instead brings this universal dilemma to the foreground. It manifests in the fractures of history and memory while lying hidden in the ambiguity of reason and the dislocation of perception. Rationality of nature and chaos of perceptions are inherently unified: the destination reached through the search may well be a certain absurdity. Instead of chasing a singular certainty, perhaps embracing reality is the basis for everything.[1] This expression is borrowed from a well-known Chinese fable, A Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains, and is literally translated as “breaking up the rocks and digging up the earth,” which summarizes the operations deployed to move the mountains.

Guo Hongwei (1982, Sichuan) graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2004 and currently lives and works in Beijing.

He explores the multiple meanings of the act of “seeing” from the depiction of nature history objects, and the intertextual reference to vision and fantasy. By investigating different visual systems and switching between media such as watercolor and oil painting, the artist searches for paradigmatic differences in the order of painting.

His work was been shown in solo exhibitions including Magician Space (Beijing), DRC No.12 (Beijing), Chambers Fine Art (New York, Beijing), and was included in exhibitions at G Museum of Art (Nanjing), Yuan Art Museum (Beijing), M+ (Hong Kong), Times Museum (Guangzhou), Taikang Space (Beijing), Asia Art Archive (Hong Kong), Orange County Museum of Art (California), Padiglione d’arte Contemporanea (Milan), Tampa Museum of Art (St. Petersburg), Oklahoma City Museum of Art (Oklahoma), UCCA (Beijing), Power Station of Art (Shanghai), Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art (Shanghai), CAFA Art Museum (Beijing), Today Art Museum (Beijing), etc.

His works are collected by M+, LACMA, White Rabbit Gallery, By Art Matters Museum, DSL foundation, He Art Museum, G Museum of Art, etc.

Leo Li Chen is an independent curator and writer based in Beijing, China. He was the Director of Research in Magician Space, Beijing, and an independent curator in Hong Kong and mainland China. His main research focuses on geopolitics, performativity and moving images, to explore the complexity of identity and subjectivity that transcends geographical barriers. He has curated the exhibitions, Unidentified Object (Song Art Museum, Beijing, 2024), How Far, How Close(Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe, 2023); Facets (Gallery Weekend Beijing Public Sector, 2023) ; The Racing Will Continue, The Dancing Will Stay (Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, 2019); Today Could Have Been a Happy Day (Taikang Space, Beijing, 2018); That Has Been and Maybe Again (Para Site, Hong Kong, 2016); Adrift (OCAT, Shenzhen, 2016), and so on. He was a resident researcher at Asia Art Archive in 2016, and at MMCA Korea in 2019. He gained the New York curator residency fellowship by Asian Cultural Council in 2019.