This September, Plum Blossoms Gallery takes great pleasure in presenting “Dancing Love and Lust”, renowned Chinese artist Feng Bin’s first solo gallery exhibition in Hong Kong.
In this exhibition, Feng will present recent works from his acclaimed Dancing Series. Feng began painting dancers in 2006, after being inspired by the evening dances held in city squares across China. In Chinese society, physical contacts amid social interactions are often limited to handshakes and are far more reserved than cultures in the West, where hugging and kissing on the cheeks are largely-accepted social practices. Although many forms of dancing, be it waltz, tango, or samba, can be seen as entertainments, social gatherings or even sports, they are still considered distinctively intimate from a psychological perspective for a conservative society, hence the implied sex metaphor is indisputable.
In Feng’s paintings, intimate moments of men and women engaging in different dance forms are captured by his depictions of shadowy figures against undefined backgrounds. They invite viewers to mediate on the notation of “affection between strangers” and to consider the pleasures, anxieties, seductions, desires and other expectations that are associated with the act of dancing. Romantic but not romanticized, Feng’s couples speak to the appearance of lust and love, and the momentary reprieve from urban alienation. As Feng explains, “Men and women in cities dance to the melodies they make up for themselves under the filtering and glamorous light. They are so close to each other yet so detached. It is just a reflection of the drifting and illusory human souls in modern urban life. ‘
When asked about his views on Feng Bin’s Dancing Series, Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang remarked, “Over our lifetimes, we have witnessed China throw away so much of itself: both what needed to be discarded, but also what should have been treasured. The one thing that remains, however, is the red cap of Socialism. Above all, I admire the courage Feng has to break with tradition…Feng’s dancing couples reflect that interplay between the China he has lived in and the China he lives in now.”
Feng Bin was born in Chengdu, China in 1962. He lives and works in Chongqing, China. In 1985 he completed a BFA from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing. At present, Feng is an Associate Professor of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and the Director of the Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. Feng’s work is held in permanent collections throughout China including the China National Art Museum, Beijing and the Shanghai Art Museum, as well as collections abroad at the Museum of Art of Macau, the National Gallery of Armenia, and the British Museum.
