Pillow Talk @ Aurora Museum: Artist: Xueqing Zhu Curator: Roxane Fu

Pillow Talk

2024.09.07 - 2024.10.08
Opening:2024.09.13 15:30 - 19:30
 Artist: Xueqing Zhu

Curator: Roxane Fu
Organisers: Aurora Museum, Nan Ke Gallery
Exhibition Venue: First Floor, Aurora Museum, Shanghai

 

 

 ——Marguerite Duras, The Quiet Life

 

Nan ke Gallery is pleased to announce that represented artist Xueqing Zhu will present her solo exhibition Pillow Talk at the Aurora Museum from September 7th to October 8th. The exhibition takes the transition between dreaming and waking up as a starting point, echoing the artist's surreal mode of expression, her reflection on the changing reality, and her willingness to balance the two.

 

Oil on convas

142h x 195w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

For Xueqing Zhu, the act of creation mirrors the process of dream formation. Experiences from the real world are transformed into fantastical imaginings and metaphors, meticulously crafted into rich and captivating narratives that unfold in silence. The entrance to the exhibition greets visitors with the Tender Flame: Five Chapters series, setting the tone for an exploration of departure and pursuit. Elongated images of flames and houses symbolize both the peril of stagnation and a wild, burgeoning inner force. In these dialogues with the self, old frameworks are dismantled, allowing the artist to move forward with a liberated and buoyant spirit, venturing into the unknown terrain of a cold, surreal wonderland.

  

 

 

 

 

Installation view of Pillow Talk, September 7, 2024 - October 8, 2024, Aurora Museum, Shanghai ©  Courtesy Nan Ke Gallery

 

The exhibition space is designed to evoke the ambience of an old-fashioned theatre, dressed in dark red hues. Paintings are arranged like stills from a slow-motion film, unfolding at an unhurried pace. Zhu’s works transcend their surfaces with vivid narratives, weaving fairytale-like imagery that captures her ongoing self-exploration and the whimsical sights gathered along the way.

 

Tender Flame: Five Chapters, 2022

Oil on canvas

50h x 50w cm x 5pcs

© Courtesy of the artist

 

Zhu’s latest works exemplify her hallmark style—bold, surrealist imagery. Since the 1920s, surrealism’s romantic, unmoored, and avant-garde ethos has offered women artists a way to carve out their space in the art world. For Zhu, “movement” is a resonant theme that continues to shape her practice. Her journeys—from studying in Venice to creating back in Shanghai—reflect a shedding of old burdens and a continual expansion of her artistic frontiers.

 

Oil on canvas

149h x 208w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

A red velvet curtain cascades from the ceiling, framing Free Bird Trip in a dramatic display. Continuing the motif of escape, this work invites viewers into a post-departure voyage. An expansive desert landscape embodies both the freedom and desolation of uncharted territory, while a figure’s balancing pole symbolizes a harmonious equilibrium reminiscent of Chinese Tai Chi. In Zhu’s visionary blueprint, “freedom” resists veering into unrestrained chaos; it is instead a rhythmical quest through a desert devoid of coordinates or tracks, seeking an oasis of inner calm.

 

Oil on canvas

30h x 25w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

The influence of Mexican surrealist Leonora Carrington looms large over Zhu’s art. Carrington’s preference for egg tempera, with its gem-like hues and fairy tale imagery, serves as an expressive tool for Zhu as well. Zhu’s paintings feature elongated strands of hair, spider-threaded petals, and plaid skirts, all rendered with a whimsical grace that builds a fantastical realm around a core of sharp, introspective intensity.

 

Oil on canvas

130h x 160w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

 

Throughout Zhu’s practice, “departure” remains a constant, yet it is not an end in itself. It embodies a childlike, crystalline impulse for exploration: discarding old notions in favor of Rabindranath Tagore’s Burning Memories—light footsteps that clear space for the unknown and for self-rooted growth.

 

Pink skirt in the room with less light, 2024

Oil on canves

130h x 170w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

Viewing the exhibition as a whole, it becomes clear that the “images” within Zhu’s paintings and texts, much like acts of destruction, are not the ultimate focus. Instead, they serve to evoke broader and varied connections, inviting viewers to find their own points of resonance and empathy. Through immersion in the exhibition’s theatrical setting, Pillow Talk stages a solo journey where the emptiness reveals glimpses of another, wondrous world. As The Quiet Life suggests:

 

Oil on panel

30h x 40w cm

© Courtesy of the artist

 

"Let the fire burn slowly, without saying a word or passing judgment. I will move forward, renewing myself in the emptiness."

 

Text by Roxane Fu