Altered State: Deciphering Urban in the Art of Chen Xuanrong and Huang Yulong

Exhibition Duration: 28th October –31st December 2018

Artist: Chen Xuanrong, Huang Yulong

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The duo exhibition, Altered State: Deciphering Urban in the Art of Chen Xuanrong and Huang Yulong, echoes the dynamics of urbanity anywhere, while also forging an entirely unique way of conceptualizing the new urban individuality of China. Two artists, with almost a 10-year gap in age difference, create works influenced by hip-hop – or what we interchangeably call, ‘street culture.’

With its uncompromised and in-your-face attitude, hip-hop has swamped the minds of urban youths
everywhere, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or age. Hip-hop owes its beginnings to a particular time and place, but as it has traveled across the oceans, its state has inevitably been altered. Nowadays, the movement owes its originality and authenticity to the area wherein it is practiced and lived. The key to hip-hop culture has always been – and always will be – about telling the story of one’s own self – where one comes from, who he really is and what he has to say.

Presenting new works for the duo exhibition, Altered State: Deciphering Urban in the Art of Chen Xuanrong and Huang Yulong, the artists make statements about their identities and surroundings. They do not attempt to establish guidelines for defining urbanity in China, but rather express their fascination with it. Yulong sculpts a new face for his generation, while Roy outlines an urban setting that is more up-to-date with the period of diversity and integration, confusion and the uncertainty that the two artists live in today.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

CHEN XUANRONG

Chen Xuanrong, born in 1991 in Zhangzhou, Fujian. He was admitted to the Printmaking
Department of CAFA, Beijing in 2010 and graduated with a Bachelor degree in 2014. He continued studying Modern Printmaking under professors Wang Huaxiang and Yin Jian in CAFA and obtained his Master degree in 2018. His work created for the CAFA graduation show won the Third Prize in 2014, in the same year he got nominated at the National College Students Invitational Art Exhibition. Nowadays, Xuanrong is living and working in Beijing as an independent artist. He has already held a number of solo exhibitions and participated in artist in residency programs in Shanghai OneHome Art Hotel and MOCA Taipei.

 

HUANG YULONG

Huang Yulong (⻩玉龙) was born in 1983 in Huainan, Anhui Province, China. In 2007, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jiangxi Province. As one of the new generation of Chinese artists and part of the post-‘80 and ‘only child’ generation, Huang is strongly influenced by the phenomenon of foreign culture in China, which he combines with his fascination with pottery and the material world.

He works in a variety of media ranging from traditional porcelain, glass or bronze with crystals. To him, the hip-hop culture he often portrays, the hoodies and bling, is a state of being and a way of life, not merely a foreign culture appropriated by young Chinese. To him, hip-hop culture is “characterized by energy, power, purity, sexuality, freedom, courage. But this is also an urban story full of crying and blood.”

ABOUT ART+ SHANGHAI GALLERY

Founded in October 2007 and located along the Suzhou River within walking distance to Shanghai’s famous Bund area, Art+ Shanghai Gallery is a dynamic art space dedicated to the exhibition, promotion, and development of Chinese contemporary art. Art+ Shanghai Gallery showcases a range of established and emerging contemporary artists from within China and abroad, stimulating and celebrating the diversity of the sprawling contemporary art scene. In addition to holding group and solo exhibitions, Art+ Shanghai Gallery offers art consultation services, hosts cultural events, and participates in international art fairs.

城市江湖：陈轩荣、黄玉龙双个展

 

展期: 2018 年 10 月28 日至 12 月31 日

参展艺术家: 陈轩荣与黄玉龙

关于展览

《城市江湖》是由两位在年龄上相差近十年的艺术家——陈轩荣与黄玉龙在嘻哈和街头文化的共同影响下创作的双个展。展览见证了中国与日俱增的城市活力，并以一种独特的方式赋予中国都市以新的身份。

 

无论种族、性别、年龄，街头文化因其不妥协的精神和放肆的态度大受当今年轻人的追捧。街头文化起源于一个特定的时间和背景，飘洋过海来到世界各地，它的内涵不可避免地发生了变化。如今，街头文化的原创性和真实性更多地体现在实践和生活的领域。街头文化的核心一直都是讲述自己的故事——你来自哪里，你到底是谁，你要表达什么。

 

通过在此次展览中呈现的新作品，两位艺术家陈述了他们的身份和所处的环境。他们并没有试图去解释和概括中国的城市化，而是表达了对城市的迷恋。黄玉龙为他的系列雕塑作品创作了一张新的面孔；陈轩荣则描绘了一个当下我们所处的城市环境，既有多元化与一体化并存，又充满了各种混乱和不确定因素。

关于艺术家

 

陈轩荣

陈轩荣（1991－）祖籍福建厦门，生于福建漳州。2010 年考入中央美术学院版画系，2014 年毕业获得本科学士学位，2018 年获得中央美术学院硕士学位。现为独立艺术家，工作生活于北京。曾在上海昊美艺术酒店（OneHome Art Hotel ）、台北当代艺术馆（MOCA Taipei ）举办个人展览及驻地项目。2014 年毕业创作获得学院创作三等奖，同年获得全国大学生艺术邀请展提名奖。

 

黄玉龙

黄玉龙，1983 年出生于中国安徽省淮南市。2007 年毕业于江西省景德镇陶瓷学院，获艺术雕塑学士学位。作为新一代的中国青年艺术家，以及“80 后”与“独生子女”一代的其中一员，黄玉龙深受外来文化现象影响，从而他的作品常结合了中国陶器的魅力与当代的物质世界元素。

 

黄玉龙使用多种媒介与材料创作作品，混合了水晶与传统陶瓷或青铜。对他来说，嘻哈文化作为他常刻画创作的一种元素，例如运动帽衫与亮闪的装饰，是生活的一种态度与方式而非仅仅被中国的年轻一代追逐的一种外来文化。对他来说，“嘻哈文化的特征是活力、力量、纯真、性感、自由、勇敢。但也是一则充满血泪的现代城市故事。”

 

艺术+上海画廊简介

创办于2007 年10 月，坐落于上海外滩名胜之地的苏州河畔，艺术＋上海画廊致力于宣传与推动中国当代艺术，是一处充满活力的艺术场馆。艺术＋上海画廊不仅展示来自中外的知名艺术家，也同时支持有潜力的新兴艺术家，旨在能够不断催促和激励当代艺术舞台的多样性不断延伸扩大。除了举办艺术家群展和个展，艺术＋上海画廊也同时提供艺术品咨询服务，文化活动策划服务以及参加各大国际展会等。