FANG XIANCHEN

TARDIS, from the British sci-fi television series ‘Doctor Who’, stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It is a time machine and spacecraft that possesses certain consciousness and life-like characteristics, capable of traveling to any time and place in the universe. Its interior space tends to be infinite, almost like another universe. Einstein’s theory of relativity revealed the interrelation of time and space, indicating their existence relative to each observer. This means that changes in time and space depend on the observer’s relative speed and position. As a painter, Fang Xianchen incorporates the concept of time and space into his creations, blending past and present, here and there, reality and fiction. Time and space become intrinsic forms of cognitive structure, a subjective way of perceiving the world rather than independent objective entities. Amid the prevalence of symbolic imagery today, Fang Xianchen’s approach stands out with its calmness and restraint. Beneath his figurative, classical, mysterious, and poetic visual imagery lies a strong narrative and readability, attempting to detach the viewer from the entanglements of reality. The order and rhythm embedded in his colours and compositions are key to guiding all emotional variables.

The series of works in this exhibition are based on Fang Xianchen’s reinterpretation and reconstruction of his surroundings. The magical realism and dreamlike scenes represent his ideal way of understanding and transforming reality. In these works, factual experiences are dislocated, opening cracks in the structure of time, where the magical and the mundane coexist harmoniously. The fluid experience merges the independent, enduring, and essential existence in reality with the transient, illusory, and partial existence. For instance, in the work ‘The Transient,’(2024) Fang juxtaposes the scene of a home lounge with the red bridge at the entrance of Yechun Teahouse in Yangzhou. The relaxed and carefree state of the figures in the room, depicted with the artist’s delicate brushwork, exudes a romantic, intimate, and hazy atmosphere. The red bridge outside the window exists beyond the landscape, seemingly freezing time while infinitely extending it. Elements like a long-rotten baguette, a woman’s reflection in a bathroom mirror, and a solitary house in a dreamscape make us aware that the flow of time is not a fixed constant.

Science fiction, dreams, poetry, madness, absurdity, and metaphor all weave through Fang Xianchen’s surreal garden of painting. As André Breton described in ‘Soluble Fish,’ all my reveries are aflame in the chandelier of my head. Surrealism is the ‘invisible light,’ as if living elsewhere, turning countless absurdities into beauty, with fireworks blooming from the abyss. In ‘Serenity and Courage,’(2024) an elder with white hair gazes at city neon lights, alongside a stubborn lamb and blooming fireworks, encountering strong conflicts. In ‘Elephant Graveyard,’(2024) the elephants walking in the same direction, combined with the vaguely staff-like streetlights, stitch together their distinct stories. ‘Farewell to absurd choices, the dreams of dark abyss, rivalries, the prolonged patience, the flight of the seasons, the artificial order of ideas, the ramp of danger, time for everything!’ Fang Xianchen’s paintings are a place of imaginative experimentation and a sanctuary in reality.