Relic, 2017
Lu Chao, born in 1988, Shenyang, China. He lives and works in Beijing.
Everything we don't see is immense. This might sum up Lu Chao's art. Since the 2010s, the artist has given himself a very precise framework: to paint in black and white oils to reveal every last detail of his imagination.
Our gaze hangs on a thread or a character barely larger than the tip of Lu Chao's brush. Our mind is in suspension, in full concentration to read these states of the soul, these white canvases under construction. Lu Chao's meticulous attention to detail, which forms the basis of his practice, is inherited from the Chinese calligraphic tradition. We find all the uses and treatments of black: as a background, as an instrument of detail, as a tool of shadow, as a subject in itself. Lu Chao's power lies in this technical openness, where the palette made up exclusively of this color continues to give depth and existence to the slightest line.
His work can be found in institutional and private collections such as the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris, France); the Ghisla Art Collection (Locarno, Switzerland), the Sammlung Wemhöner (Berlin, Germany); the Today Art museum (Beijing, China), the collection of the China Central Academy of Fine art (Beijing, China), the collection of the Fine art school affiliated to Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing, China) and the JNBY Collection (Hangzhou, China).