Exhibition Preview | Huang Bingjie's solo exhibition "Don't Wake Me Up" opens at O2art on November 25th
O2art is pleased to announce that Huang Bingjie's solo exhibition "Don't wake me" will be open on November 25, 2023. The exhibition will last until January 16, 2024.
It’s unknown when using definite theories as guidance became conventional thinking. For instance, when speaking of feminism, one has to think about Simone de Beauvoir or unable to talk about dreams without visiting Sigmund Freud. In other words, the consensus reached that history, experience, and knowledge ultimately shape the way we think. Huang Bingjie's second solo exhibition at O2 Art, "Don't Wake Me," provides an alternative way of thinking that follows clues presented in her dreamscape, revealing the artist’s coming of age to explore the boundary between the illusory and reality through the practice of painting.
Extending the thread from her previous solo exhibition, "Dream and Beast," Huang Bingjie perceives dreams as projections of her subconscious mind, the interpretation of which provides her with rational ways of self-discovery and self-understanding. The canvas then becomes the interface onto which she translates such discoveries. The artist's sincerity in confronting the self has since delivered a scene that is not entirely made of wonder and splendor, where one finds blossom behind wilted flowers, facial expression suggesting ulterior motives behind kissing lovers, and a monument of birds perched together with traces of ruins. Many of the works presented in this exhibition, such as "Up Above, Hanging Below" and "A Recurring Dream," continue to reveal senses of fear and anguish; at the same time, her latest series, "The Gilded Age," unfolds Huang’s perceptive observations of her immediate social environment and the current times.
"Desolation always creeps in at the apex of blossom." Huang Bingjie prefers to search for freedom within sets of rules and conventions. Her approach to edges, be it that of her painting or her brushwork – was one to conceive it as a key to one's psyche, then allowing dripping in controlled brush works may be perceived as a reach for freedom. Huang Bingjie's dreams are her points of departure from a discourse filled with fear or enigma, and what's revealed in them is part of the reality of her everyday life. She dives into the undecipherable dreams with keen perception and, through her tableaus, conveys and translates her discoveries to the outside world.
About the artist
Huang Bingjie, was born in Xiangtan, Hunan Province in 1994, and graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in 2016. She is now a professional artist and lives and works in Beijing. She is also the founder of the humanities and art blog RED·MOON, and has attracted wide attention for sharing art content and running the art community, while being active in different fields of planning art and cultural activities such as new generation exhibitions. Solo exhibition: Dreams and Beasts —— Huang Bingjie’s solo exhibition, O2art Space, Beijing, China(2021); Summer — Huang Bingjie work salon, O2art space and Master Miao, Beijing, China(2019).
Curator
Fiona He is an independent curator, art writer, and seasoned translator of art texts. A graduate of McGill University, Montreal, with a degree in art history and Asian studies, she has worked as a researcher for Asia Art Archive in Mainland China and an editor for Artforum.com.cn. Her ongoing research interests include the permeating impacts of media and technology on human perception, reception, and artistic practice; the politics of representation; and the mechanisms of viewing. Recent essays include catalogue texts for Fredrik Vaerslev: Renne at Frac Bretagne, France, and an upcoming exhibition of Maria Lassnig at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing. She is a longtime contributor to many art publications, including Artforum, Art-Ba-Ba, Flash Art, Artnet, Leap, ArtReview China, and Yishu, and writes a featured column on painting for the Art Newspaper (Chinese edition).
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