That’s How We Grow Up: Artists: Di Yang, Julian Junyuan Feng, Hui Tao, Mo Tong, Xueqing Zhu, Yanmeng Zhang, Yunchun Wang 

That's How We Grow Up

2024.8.24 - 2024.9.24
Opening: 2024.8.24 15:00 - 19:30

Artists: Di Yang, Julian Junyuan Feng, Hui Tao, Mo Tong ,

Xueqing Zhu, Yanmeng Zhang, Yunchun Wang

Curator:Otto Neu

 

 

Nan Ke Gallery is pleased to present the group exhibition project That's How We Grow Up on August 24, 2024, bringing together the works of seven artists: Di Yang, Julian Junyuan Feng, Hui Tao, Mo Tong, Xueqing Zhu, Yanmeng Zhang and Yunchun Wang. These artists all grew up in China at the turn of the century and have witnessed the rapid development of this land for more than twenty years. Whether they studied in a foreign country at a young age, or were fully nourished by the traditional Chinese education system, their upbringing is reflected in their works to a greater or lesser extent by the influence of the local culture. These works are not only a reflection of their personal experiences, but strech to intrigue a sight from the audience, connecting with their own way of growing up on this land.

 

2048 x 1536

5+2 AP

© Courtesy of the artist

 

 Julian Junyuan Feng

CGI archival pigment print

100h x 100w  cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

The exhibition opens with Di Yang's video work Miles away, Disneyland. The title of the work is derived from the advertising slogan of Suzhou Amusement Land in the last century, “Disney is too far away, go to Suzhou Paradise!” which epitomizes the theme park boom in China in the 1980s. With the arrival of Disneyland in China, Suzhou Paradise, once a collective memory of this generation, was relocated, leaving the dilapidated roller coaster frame was preserved as an open public space. Through the main character's stroll, the video takes the viewer back to his childhood to re-examine the connection between today's self and the past. In contrast to Yang Di's work, Junyuan Feng's CGI artwork “Loner” shows an astronaut kneeling helplessly in front of a green screen, his dreams seemingly shattered by the symbolic virtual green screen, forced from the infinite universe back to the confines of man-made scenery.

 

Foam, cloth, stainless steel

3+1 AP

© Courtesy of the artist

 

 

 Mo Tong

70h x 50w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

30h x 23.5w cm x 2

© Courtesy of the artist

  

In this “classroom space”, the artist also recalls this particular stage of life through the dichotomy of memory and emotion. Mo Tong's Red Scarf and School Uniform visually teases the collective subconscious rooted in our brains through graphic memory. Yunchun Wang draws inspiration from daily life, nature, literature, and various cultural symbols, delving deeply into the complexities of subtle emotions and the human spirit. Her paintings, Review I and II, are rooted in her school-time reflections on the works of Maugham and Hermann Hesse. Through the use of symbolism and mystical elements, Yunchun subtly explores how individuals navigate the dual pursuit of external and internal freedom in their growth. The contrasting fragments of memory—whether the small bill held during an exam or the carefree duck wandering nearby—encapsulate the paradoxes of our childhood, where joy coexisted with pain, and freedom with constraint.

 

38h x 28.5w cm x 5

6+2AP

© Courtesy of the artist

 

After leaving the Chinese classroom, Hui Tao's Untitled presents five consecutive and similar images that seem to suggest the “The Five Psychosexual Stages” in Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development. The work is inspired by the artist's Wechat Moments, in which the artist, dressed in a Chinese school uniform, flips through pornographic magazines that symbolize the power of desire and excitement in a youthful manner, a form that gives the viewer a voyeuristic perspective. As a necessary part of growing up, the “sexual need” in Freud's theory not only refers to the relationship between the two sexes, but also encompasses all emotional experiences that can bring pleasure. Sex is not only a physical release, but also a fulfillment of the mind and spirit. Echoing this, Yanmeng Zhang's work Orange Room features intertwined flesh in the center of the picture, twisted and entangled in the bright orange space, frozen in motion. This work extends the theory of desire and need, between “self” and “other”, need and desire are like the warm and cold colors in the picture, spiraling and intertwining, the sensibility of the flesh and the rationality of the relationship reveals a hint of coldness in the warm color of desire.

 

160h x 120w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

 

120h x 90w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

Low-carbon steel, stainless steel, cowhide leather, mineral oil

144h x 68w x 19d cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

 

The third floor space explores the choices we face as adults when we put on our “social masks”. Xueqing Zhu's work Chronic Injuries and Metaphors depicts a woman stroking her transparent torso, with her organs and blood vessels clearly visible, a silver comb floating in her stomach, and light scars faintly visible on her body. These elements may compose the price of beauty, while the reflection in the mirror suggests the stares and injuries to female identity during the process of growing up. In recent years, the plight of women in society has become a widely discussed topic, which brings up the twinned topic of the plight of men in society on a certain level. Facing this work is Feng's installation Testudo Formation. It seems to show a solution to deal with injuries. The armor and locks of the European Middle Ages symbolize masculinity and defense against the outside world, forming a causal link with the injured male figure in the classical copperplate in his other installation, The Wound Man. As we grow up and put on the “masks” of manhood and womanhood, we enjoy greater free will as adults, but we also inevitably coexist with harm from the outside world. In the process of defending ourselves, the experience of growing up implicitly influences current behavior and decision-making.

 

24.5h x 17w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

Yunchun Wang's Fuzzy Emotions and Merry Christmas, with their quiet fountains and moths fluttering into the flames, travel us to the open-ended conclusion of the exhibition. The opposites of “water and fire” elements suggest the choices we face when we grow up, using the visual language of mysticism to illustrate the state of mind in those moments. In the midst of these choices, we are gradually formed into our “selves”, which leads us to a more profound question: after the completion of growing up on this very land, what is the destination next?

 

Text by Otto Neu