Hanart TZ Gallery will be presenting a solo exhibition by Gu Wenda.  Alongside his solo show will be his monumental human hair installation “United Nations” at Encounter E9 and also “Forest of Stone Steles” at Galleries Booth 3D07 in Art Basel Hong Kong 2014

Hanart TZ Gallery’s association with the groundbreaking experimental ink artist Gu Wenda began almost three decades ago. In 1992, Hanart presented “Desire for Words”, a specially curated two-man show featuring Gu Wenda and Xu Bing. Held at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, this exhibition marked the first time the two artists showed together in Hong Kong. After more than two decades, just as ink art is becoming an increasing point of focus in the art market, Hanart TZ Gallery presents a special series of three solo exhibitions by Gu Wenda. All opening in May 2014, the exhibitions will be held in three venues: at the Hanart TZ Gallery space in the Pedder Building, at the gallery’s booth at Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK), and as part of Art Basel Hong Kong’s “Encounter”, a special showcase in the public area of the fair. These exhibitions feature Gu Wenda’s most recent works as well as his most important signature series: Alchemy, Mythos of Lost Dynasties (showing at Hanart TZ Gallery, Pedder Building); United Nations (showing at ABHK Encounter), and Forest of Stone Steles- Retranslation and Rewriting of Tang Poetry (showing at Hanart gallery booth, ABHK). Through these shows, viewers will have a rare opportunity to encounter a cross-section of Gu’s conceptually powerful works, and appreciate how the artist’s inventive modes including installations made of human hair, mistranslations of Tang poems, “genetic ink” and “tea paper” paintings, are continuously overturning the received notions of “experimental ink” and, what is more, challenging the existing misconceptions of “ink art” in the current market.

In the 1980’s, Gu Wenda was already one of Mainland China’s most widely known contemporary artists, and one of the leading figures of China’s experimental ink movement. During that period, ink painting was seen as both a legacy and as an ‘umbilical cord of history’ connecting the fractured present with the Chinese cultural past. Gu’s strong foundation and immense talent in traditional ink painting and calligraphy made his iconoclastic experiments of the time even more powerful evocative.

Image: © Gu Wenda
Courtesy of the artist and Hanart TZ Gallery