About artist: Killion Huang currently lives and works in his native China, after having earned his BFA from the New York School of Visual Arts in 2022. Inspired by Old Masters like Matisse, Bonnard, and Jamie Wyeth, as well as contemporary figures TM Davy, Louis Fratino, and Oscar Yi Hou, Huang's figurative paintings reflect his experience as a queer artist in New York City. His intimate portrayals capture everyday moments within the LGBTQ+ community, offering a glimpse into his journey from a conservative Chinese background. Huang's artistic practice seeks to amplify the under-represented queer community and culture globally, emphasizing the importance of community in the context of queer identity and giving voice to the marginalized.
Shaanxinan Road , 2024
Oil on canvas
100h x 80w cm
In the exhibition The Retinue of Dionysus, Killion Huang's works are undoubtedly strong and eye-catching. Large panels of varying shades of red are spread across the second floor space, and flow ambiguously in the direction of purple and blue, like the “Blues Moments” of the day. The brightness of the day was beginning to be diminished and eroded, while the forces of the night had yet to be fully nourished and strengthened. The setting sun is like an explosion of combustion resulting from the entanglement of the two sides, and the image captures the moment when the flames have opened up to a frenzy. The violent aftermath is still there, but gradually shifts to a quiet moment that is indefinitely elongated and solidified into an eternity of embers and silhouettes.
Tiptoe , 2024
Oil on canvas
60h x 50w cm
Killion creates images that are like an interlude or an ending in a complete story. When the three elements of the drama are clearly stated, the painting seems to become the “window” in traditional art theory, a passageway that breaks through the wall of reality to (or peeks into) the world of another dimension. In his scenes, the space is usually small. The setting sun is scattered into the interior, becoming dark and unclear; while the “outside” of the window in the picture is, on the contrary, a large area of burning richness and vastness. Such contrasts are often seen in the images: the limited space seems to be a kind of shell, creating a mixture of security and alienation. The strong flesh and the soft cat also suggest a contradictory temperament.
Ceremony , 2024
Oil on canvas
60h x 50w cm
All the contradictions are dominated by the natural day-night contradiction of the “sunset”, which is united in a consistent color palette. Masculine and feminine, outward and inward, passionate and calm, broad and narrow. The treatment of the picture revolves around a reflection on dualism, creating a non-dualistic ideal situation. All opposing elements are reconciled here, even if it is still skeptical, with a fighting temperament, and unable to be fully self-referential; even if the whole world seems to be nothing more than a vague dream seen through rose-colored lenses.
Paper Cut , 2024
Oil on canvas
40h x 30w cm
From an imagery point of view, “sunset” has been given the meaning of “chaos” in many different civilizations. In the legends, the intersection of light and dark is a time when it is difficult to distinguish between humans and ghosts, and the boundaries of all kinds of things are blurred and dissolved, as if a certain degree of equality has been reached as a result. The artist's depiction of the setting sun seems to capture this meaning as well: when the light burns so brightly that it is almost distorted, the rules of the past become unclear and easier to break. Rebellious groups can thus temporarily put aside their anger and seriousness in the endless colors, leaving behind their identities and bodies to become blurred silhouettes, free to love whoever they want.
Bowie , 2024
Oil on canvas
40h x 30w cm
“What I will always support as an artist, and as a human being, is love.” Killion says, “And the queer community that I was born into and continue to grow to understand.” In his works, the spirit of rebellion is sung high through the stirring colors, and polished by brushstrokes that are delicate and gentle, like the ashes left behind after a burn, containing the fierceness of the flame, but more timeless and profound. In the exhibition, a series of works depict real connections. Through the display of various solitary gestures, the viewer seems to be able to get closer to the intimate and soft interior of queer after the shell is burned off, and also gain insights into the truth about the power of the traditional “masculinity” representation after it has been stripped away. Sunset represents the start of a psychedelic, colorful and varied horn, and at the end of it, we see each other through the burnt out ruins of the rules, in a warm gesture of empathy.
Text by Roxane Fu
May 22, 2024
