清影

Inna Art Space are proud to announce their invitation for a residence at OōEli’s POP-UP Gallery, pending the presentation of a large scale exhibition from Chen Dongfan, “Rhythm”. In addition to this being an important summary of and expressing the artist’s recent activities, the exhibition is a milestone, the first to assimilate and present anew and in full the several years of practice that have passed since his moving from Hangzhou to New York in 2014. 

“Breath”（Hu-xi）in Chinese and in English “Rhythm”, the exhibition titles imply repetitive, cycling cadences and in being not quite in sync with one another represent a longstanding custom of Chen Dongfan’s to take dislocation as a means to expand the implications of his lexicon and exhibition titles, a tactic originating in his experiences of living and working between cultures. 

As a biological process, the importance of breathing for survival needn’t be overstated. In adages such as “a fresh breath of life”, as in George Floyd’s “I can’t breathe”, the word assumes enduring, complex socio-psychological implications. From fitness training, through to music and the performative arts, all the way into Western spiritualistic practice, common, close emphasis, care and attention are paid to breath and breathing. This has furnished “breath” with deeper significance that of pursuing a deeper state of freedom in body and mind. Taking “Breath · Rhythm” as its titles and resonating also with 2017's “Heated Bloom”, the present exhibition attempts to express the artist’s attitudes and approach to art, society and the everyday. 

Inna Art Space are proud to announce their invitation for a residence at OōEli’s POP-UP Gallery, pending the presentation of a large scale exhibition from Chen Dongfan, “Rhythm”. In addition to this being an important summary of and expressing the artist’s recent activities, the exhibition is a milestone, the first to assimilate and present anew and in full the several years of practice that have passed since his moving from Hangzhou to New York in 2014. 

“Breath”（Hu-xi）in Chinese and in English “Rhythm”, the exhibition titles imply repetitive, cycling cadences and in being not quite in sync with one another represent a longstanding custom of Chen Dongfan’s to take dislocation as a means to expand the implications of his lexicon and exhibition titles, a tactic originating in his experiences of living and working between cultures. 

As a biological process, the importance of breathing for survival needn’t be overstated. In adages such as “a fresh breath of life”, as in George Floyd’s “I can’t breathe”, the word assumes enduring, complex socio-psychological implications. From fitness training, through to music and the performative arts, all the way into Western spiritualistic practice, common, close emphasis, care and attention are paid to breath and breathing. This has furnished “breath” with deeper significance that of pursuing a deeper state of freedom in body and mind. Taking “Breath · Rhythm” as its titles and resonating also with 2017's “Heated Bloom”, the present exhibition attempts to express the artist’s attitudes and approach to art, society and the everyday. 

Whilst Chen Dongfan’s work has concerned itself throughout with the investment of force and emotional rhythm, this by no means inhibits multiple viewpoints encompassing its solemnity, humor and so forth. The artist’s works foreground the climaxes and transitions of existential vigor, whilst maintaining at the same time a certain proximity to the literature and music. At this present moment time, in the midst of a pandemic, taking “Breath · Rhythm” both as thematic handle and title, the present exhibition may be taken in itself as a grounding in the artist’s sensibilities and ongoing discourse, from whence art and collective psychologies are interrogated, stirred or proposed. 

The earliest of the works composing the present exhibition is from the “Rooftops” series, conceived for Nomad in 2013. Alongside this, it also contains pieces from the 2017-2018 period’s “Daily News” and “Portraits”, both series exploring portraiture and imagination. There are also works from the 2020 series “Forgotten Letters”, “Diary”, “Story” and “Landscapes”, the components of which are all strongly imbued with emotionally tense, diaristic, contemplative sentiment. Also presented are the explosive, encompassing statements of new sculptural and large-scale painted installation work from 2021’s “Earth into Man”. 

Between them, the works exhibited elucidate a sense of rhythm. Consisting primarily of paintings but also incorporating sculpture, murals, hangings and other media, the space of the exhibition as a whole extends the artist’s explorations of mental space by way of brush and palette. On top of this, in continuation of habits developed whilst making open studios living in New York, the artist to a certain extent also utilizes the exhibition space itself as a studio in-situ, fusing art with the everyday to invite viewers to unravel together the boundless, complex potentialities of “Breath · Rhythm”.

(Translated by Alastair McInnes)