Art Experience Gallery takes the greatest pleasure in presenting "Dreamy Vision", the solo exhibition of emerging Chinese artist, Ge Hui. The harmonious combination of women admired for their demureness, horses in different postures and pristine environments creates a dreamy vision of poetic feelings. The simple composition, straightforward strokes, abundant use of monochrome and extruded colours denote a technique deliberately kept low-profile, which leads the audience to take it as children's work at first glance. These impeccable paintings demonstrate the pure personality of Ge Hui heart and soul. They are the artist's "Eden".

Before becoming an artist, Ge Hui studied civil engineering. The subject allowed him to understand how man uses natural resources, coupled with sophisticated calculations, to build different constructions to improve people's livelihood. As the human civilization advances, the scales of infrastructure constructions continue to expand. The quality of life of people has been enhanced, yet superficially and Ge Hui cannot find genuine bliss in it. For "well-being", man "fully utilizes" each and every resource in nature to develop water conservancy facilities, transportation networks and energy projects... However, while focusing on these vast, grand buildings and constructions, we seem to have forgotten man and 6natures are indeed interdependent. Resources of Mother Nature are finite. Problems arising from excessive developments are apparent, which hurts Ge Hui's conscience. Ge Hui, incapable of changing the cruel reality, projects his ideal land onto his works, giving the paintings innocent lives and trying to alleviate pain in the real world through dreamy visions.

The characters in the paintings include women, men as well as those of unidentifiable gender. According to Ge Hui, "They have another kind of face and language. What they are speaking of is a perspective outside of life, similar to the ‘hidden meaning of words' in Chinese traditions." Ge Hui has stripped the characters of their clothing, putting them in nakedness, the most primitive state. That is the moment closest to nature, when man, plants and animals co-exist in peace, depending on, without conquering, one another. The missing of any one of them would result in a part breaking off from the chain. In reality, this balance has been lost. Nevertheless, the amazing interdependency in nature prevails in Ge Hui's works.

Ge Hui's passion for life and nature is taken beyond the frame. Paint, initially old and unwanted, is once again used by the artist. Ge Hui applies thick paint outside the frame in layers to create uneven shapes. This is regarded by Ge Hui as "additional pursuit of the remaining life". The powerful brush strokes demonstrate the innocence of a child. Ge Hui's paintings convey light-hearted and joyous scenes.

When the viewer's eyes catch those of the characters, they feel a little melancholy in the look. Moreover, the characters wear an expression like a smile yet not a smile, looking at the viewer. The viewer is involved in rational scrutiny while emotionally engaged in joyous sensation. The birth of his daughter Yiyi lets Ge Hui feel the joy and mission of being a father for the first time. Yiyi was born in a quiet evening in September. Staring at the pure, innocent child, Ge Hui hopes to give her a land of harmonious co-existence of man and nature - an honest hope of Ge Hui.

Image: © Art Experience Gallery