Chan Hampe Galleries presents three generations of China's most highly sought after artists, each one having influenced the other’s practice either directly or indirectly. Through a variety of mediums, viewers will discover clues that mark the transitioning of knowledge from one to another and how this is ultimately reflected in the artist’s work. The resultant attitudes vary from the surreal to the absurd.

About the artists:

Zhou Xiaohu (b. 1960) was one of the first contemporary artists in China to work experimentally with sculptural ideas of video and animation. With a background in sculpture, oil painting, and graphic design, Zhou's work is a dynamic combination of these mediums, inducing confusion and bafflement, making viewers question the evidence of their senses and their assumptions about “the facts”.

Dong Wensheng (b. 1970), a protégé of Zhou Xiaohu, is a photographer and video artist whose conceptual photography uses the natural and architectural elements of Chinese Gardens and other natural landscapes as a stage setting to insert objects the viewer does not expect to see. Framed by background lighting, the artist creates an almost magical space for the viewer to contemplate beauty, intimacy, and mystery and engage in a deeper philosophical consideration of the value of life.

Chen Wei (b. 1980), a graduate of the China Academy, produces photographic works that are essentially theatre pieces, shot in carefully constructed sets that resemble rooms. Often, a disaster seems to have taken place: a meteor strike, an avalanche, a failed love affair. The mood on each set, conveyed by scenery alone, is a compound of solitude, despair and darkness: windows are invariably boarded up, lights are dimmed or broken. The dingy, untidily strewn props seem to tell a story, but it’s left to the viewer to figure out the plot. Chen has likened his works to “chaotic sentences”. Asked what motivates his art, he says, “It’s a secret.” But he himself is not at all unhappy, he insists. “We artists are a minority, so we have to stay positive”.

-Chan Hampe Galleries

Image: © Chen Wei
Courtesy of the artist and Chan Hampe Galleries