In some scenario, the spiritual "existence" is more desperately closer to reality than the "material" one. Getting rid of serious linguistic techniques, the "story" gave the work a certain form, and the "story" behind the work serves as a carrier: it can carry more of the deeper personal emotions behind the superficial inspiration of our self-exploration and creation; The ritual of the "story" is not a painting technique to escape away, and neither is it a purely intellectual exercise. Telling "story" has become the earliest and most elementary thinking mode of human beings since humans can communicate. The desire of a “story” is way to satisfy people’s curiosity directly, and this exhibition is based on this premise. Putting five artists with very different creative methods and appearances in the same space and use their respective creative motivations as devices to spy on their recent comprehensive forms that can be understood and perceived.
Leslie Amine was born in Paris but her parents come from the republic of Benin. She travels around the world before a creative phase and maps out a vast universe by using her travel notes and photographic journals. As Leslie's favorite writer and her biggest influence, Victor Segalen undoubtedly played a great role in the underlying logic of her creation. As one of the first Western writers who subtly and consciously blended Chinese language and culture into European literary works, Segalen advocated a renewal of the values of traveling and initiated a search for an "other place" to isolate himself in daily life. Therefore, conflicts between civilizations, alien identities, African anecdotes, travel, and memories have always been the focus of Leslie's creation. When the audience's vision journeys through the mystery underlying Leslie's flowing and superimposed paint, they are led by its complex emotions to act as detectives in a secret world located under the paintbrush.
The love for comic strips directly affects Chen Han's handling of forms while he creates. In the 1970´s, when all kinds of resources were scarce, the most popular thing for artists was to go to the rental stalls of Xiaorenshu on the street to read "comics". The most typical structure in comics is that of the "decisive moment". Because each frame presents the most exciting instant, the character or place which can connect all the past and future of the story together. When he was young, he tried his best to remember all the details of a scene he had witnessed and draw them out from memory after he went back home. This is one of the reasons why Chen Han ignited his passion for painting. This also became the reason why he likes to construct a scene in his works in which all the characters present have a strong story behind them. The artists are like silent film directors: they can use body language, facial expressions, scenes and lighting to simulate a fleeting emotion, they are expecting the viewer to experience emotions at their command.
"Balsam Flower" series exhibited this time which comes from Chen Li's childhood memories of using Balsam Flower to dye her nails when she was growing up in the countryside. Whether it is " Balsam Flower in the Rain ", "I Grow Pearl in the Balsam Flower " or "Balsam Flowers as Offerings ", the various forms of Balsam Flower have been ground into "mineral pigments" by the artist and made by extremely microscopic individuals minimize entry points into broader thinking. After she went to other foreign country to study, she gradually realized that in the relatively closed rural areas of Asia, women's expression and pursuit of desire have long been placed in the context of stigmatization or division. In her view, while female desires are marginalized, aesthetic pursuits are often ignored too. When women in the disadvantaged areas overlapped with “Female” Gender, women will face a double "aphasia". The blooming balsam flower are more like a kind of fluid self-expansion, reflecting the artist's deep understanding of female character in the contemporary context.
Christopher Orr is known for his consistently delicate and classical approach. He deliberately chooses a miniature scale to depict absurd and ethereal dreams, and making the paintings pursue the viewing experience of precious jewels. The experience of working in a publishing house allowed him to immerse himself in the old newspapers and old magazines of the last century that were readily available, and the atmosphere of the old times permeated Auer's canvas unconsciously. Orr's work has a strong archival urge, and his studio houses an impressive collection of National Geographic magazines from the 1930s to the 1970s, postwar family photos and family holiday snapshots, and mid-70s weekend supplements advertisement. These sources are his important inspiration; images spanning many sources and twentieth-century archives, housed in binders in Orr's studio, "chopped up," "reassembled," "collaged," and "reassembled." Editing” translates complex mental states and narrative environments through visual residues.
Zhao Yinou's working method refuses to use fragments of information as decoy, she instead revolves around the gushing out of strong emotions as filling. Her latest work is still able to see the sharp, personal, intense energy. This series originated from the "Intermission" project in the "Cloud Sculpture" exhibition of Maysong Art Museum this year; within one month, the cameras in the exhibition hall recorded the traces of the artist's actions in the studio from morning to night, and the theme of the work also Originating from the artist’s personal experience in the past year and the principle of “synchronicity” echoed by the novels in the form of notes that he carries with him, the whole series reveals a kind of divination that is jointly constructed in the field of psychological state and perception story".
(Leslie Amine) was born in France in 1981 and graduated from Valence Academy of Fine Arts. She currently lives and works in Lyon and Grenoble, France. She has participated in many exhibitions and lives in Europe and Africa and also has participated in the Duta Biennale in Cameroon; her works have been include in the "Modern African Art Collection" of the Tate Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in New York by The Guardian Catalog of works. Her works are collected by important institutions in Africa, such as Bandjoun station.
Chen Han who was born in Shenyang, China in 1973, graduated from Shenyang Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in 2005, now works and lives between Shenyang and Beijing. Chen Han's soft and vague painting style can awaken the viewer's sense of substitution. He can avoid the traces of techniques in the process of creation, thus highlighting a physical artistic texture. Chen Han's brushwork tends to be traditional but determined and powerful. He is accustomed to use soft and cool colors to paint and bring out his inner feelings. His works have exhibited in art institutions and expositions at China and outside abroad many times.
Chen Li was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang in 1996. She graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 2018 with a bachelor's degree and received a master's degree in fine art from Central Saint Martins College of Art in 2020. She currently works and lives in Shanghai. Chen Li's recent creations mainly use mineral pigment painting, modern lacquer art and ceramic art as mediums to develop and explore the contradictory flowing aesthetics. She focuses on female narratives in a contemporary context, oriental mystical aesthetics and the "irrational" dimension of society's daily life in the process of modernization. She tries to understand the conflict and coexistence between modernity and mysticism, elite culture and superstition, and the androgynous delicate state and labyrinthine chaotic aesthetics caused by this tug-of-war between rationality and intuition. Recent exhibition include: “The Human World”, Blank Gallery, Shanghai（2022）；“Art Nova 100 Annual Exhibition”，Jiade Art Center，Beijing (2021) ；“redirecting”, Tree art museum，Beijing (2021) ；“ Moving Past, Moving Closer ”, Saatchi Yates，London(2020) ；Becomings, A.P.T gallery，London(2020)；Humming Out of Time, Lux gallery，London(2019)；We Are Here We Are, Apiary studio，London(2019）
Christopher Orr was born in Helensburgh, Scotland in 1967. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Duncan Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee in 2000, and obtained a master's degree from the Royal College of Art in London in 2003. He currently works and lives in London, England. Orr's creations have been widely supported by international curators and institutions. He has been invited to exhibit at the Royal Academy of Scotland, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the St. Louis Museum of Contemporary Art in the United States, the Witte de With Contemporary Art Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the Schien Art Museum in Frankfurt, and the third Tate Triennial. Recent solo exhibitions include the Kunstmuseum Basel, the 54th Venice Biennale, CAPC Bordeaux and Hauser & Wirth Zurich. Christopher Orr has previously been represented by Hauser & Wirth and Ibid.
Zhao Yinou was born in Shenyang in 1972. She studied at the Middle School of Central Academy of Fine Arts from 1988 to 1992, and then at the Oil Painting Department of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts from 1994 to 2001. She is currently teaching at the School of Art Design of Beijing University of Technology. She produced the documentaries "Tiexi District" and "He Fengming ". Recent Exhibition includes:“Being of Evils”，HIVE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART，Beijing(2020)；“PSYCHICALREALITY”，Space Station，Beijing(2019)；“Prisonnier”，Vanities，France(2019)；NSIDE-OUT ART MUSEUM，Beijing(2019)；“HER KIND” ，Zhuzhong Art museum，Beijing(2018)；“The Pleasures of Adventures”，N3 GALLERY，Beijing(2016)； “OPEN TO YOU” Busan, South Korea(2014)etc.
