The Kids are Alright: Group Exhibition

The Kids are Alright examines the cyclical nature of reality at a moment of transition. Through the artwork of four young and emerging artists, the exhibition provides timely commentary about a period of transformation in Asian’s urban evolution.

A song performed by British band, The Who, “The Kids are Alright”, would be become an anthem for the Mod movement in England during the late 1960s, and later appear as the title of a documentary about the band. The exhibition is less about emerging music sub-genres and more concerned with a particular generation of artists, particularly painters, who are creating a subculture of ambiguity in their work.

The parallel between song and exhibition exists in their shared ethnographic value—unintentional documentation of popular culture during the respective time the works were created. The political personalities, Internet celebrities and symbolic commodities so prominent in the works of Li Wenfeng, Tamen (They Group) and Suryakant Lokhande make relevant commentary about present-day society.

Born in Asia during the late 70s and early 80s, the artists are merged between global hybridism and histories rich in cultural traditions. Their vibrant canvas provide urban narratives with fragmented motifs and icons as ephemeral as the environments they depict.

Each artist has taken over a room in the gallery to encourage a wider appreciation of his personal understanding of both the large events that shape our times, and the slighter circumstances of everyday life. The artists have been asked to create their own mixed- medium installations as visual art testimonies to their generation.