Throughout her career, Hongxing has been inspired by nature, which was strengthened by her encounters at the Yuzile Sculpture Park in Guilin during her artist-in-residence. While much of her activity at the park was focused on marble sculpture, the dominant influence of Guilin’s landscape would shape her paintings for years.
After leaving the undisturbed surroundings of the south and returning to a rapidly changing Beijing, Hongxing’s work underwent a huge transformation. It was in Beijing that she took her inspiration from a new landscape, the artificial cityscapes filled with commercial advertising and billboards. Works such as Charming Reflection and Floating Life combined imagery from traditional patterns on pottery against a backdrop of her own face.
Last year Art+ Shanghai Gallery held the first Shanghai exhibition of Hongxing’s currency series, Common Wealth. Displaying a sequence of oil paintings with traditional landscapes found on Chinese currency, the exhibition posed questions on how China can progress without selling out its environment and culture. Paradise City however, speaks to a global audience.
Her new paintings of legal tenders from other countries are a visual representation of diversified landscapes and cultures in one of their prevalent signifiers: money. Hongxing maintains accuracy of the original cash note but by selecting only a portion of the pictorial imagery of each country’s currencies however, her paintings refer to a more general international concern of materialization.
For the first time at the Gallery, Hongxing will exhibit her mixed media canvases. Utilizing mass-produced materials she creates animated landscapes with a mosaic of thousands of tiny stickers. Highlighting a fusion of modern technology against traditional naturescapes, she returns again to the unlined theme in all her works, how does a society move forward without forgetting its past. Hongxing has remained true to her own unique vision amid the many shifting artistic trends of the time. Her reputation and influence will continue to grow, establishing her as an artist of great significance. Paradise City explores the ways in which subject matter and technique innovate depictions of contemporary everyday life.
