CHEN Haoxuan: Black Cat and I: Curated by WANG Yaoli

Overview

“Sto attraversando, sono in ogni esperienza.”

——Chen Haoxuan

  
Installation Views
Press release
BONIAN SPACE has launched Black Cat and I and Hope You Don't Feel the Same Way, a duo exhibition of the artists Chen Haoxuan and Kong Huidong on October 1st, 2022 (Saturday). This is the first duo exhibition gathering recent paintings from the two artists after they graduated in Italy and their first solo exhibitions with the gallery. The exhibition will last until November 3rd, 2022.
 
Affection and relationship are the eternal themes usually discussed in many works of art. The question the artists need to answer is how to express a certain feeling. This duo exhibition presents more than 30 new paintings by the artists Chen Haoxuan and Kong Huidong, both have lived and studied in Italy. Their paintings discuss the self-analysis and expression of human nature, others, and intimate relationships. Chen's the Black Cat and I series takes "black cat" as a symbol to refer to oneself or others. He uses the biological habits of the cat to reflect the sensitivity, vigilance, alienation, and intermittent intimacy needs of human nature. Mottled colors and distorted lines constitute a particular way for the artist to express his emotions. In the picture with the conflicts between intense light and shadow, the relationship between self and self in mirror-image relation is observed and analyzed from the object's perspective.
 
Hope You Don't Feel the Same Way is a true thought about the paintings that comes from the artist Kong Huidong. In contrast to Chen's seemingly fluid expression, Kong's paintings tend to be more static and restrained. The picture with obvious narrative is derived from the artist's diary-like transferring of life experience. Such as the four paintings of the Chapter series are the record and summary of Kong's study lifetime in Italy. Most of his paintings focus on the topic of intimate relationships. Through de-identity characters and surrealistic composition and arrangement, he discusses the potential tension and entanglement in the close relationship and gives a more rational expression to perceptual products through metaphor.