UCCA begins the 'New Directions' initiative

UCCA begins the “New Directions” initiative with the solo exhibition of He Xiangyu.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

UCCA begins the initiative with a solo exhibition by He Xiangyu, a presentation of 365 paintings from the artist’s ongoing Palate Project.

During a brief stint in the US, where language barriers proved difficult to navigate, He began translating into images the ridges, bumps, and grooves of his palate through perceptions felt with his tongue.

Executed over the course of four years, this presentation is composed of six groups of drawings and moves in a perennial display of watercolor, ink, and mixed media on paper. Identifiable anatomical structures dissolve and re-emerge, eventually evolving into color fields of yellow, with only the slightest hints of form. Based on a seemingly obvious premise, Palate Project revels in a Cartesian split of mind and body, illustrating that, in spite of proximity to subject, art remains the annotation to a lost referent.

Born in 1986, He graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Shenyang Normal University. Merely a year after his graduation, he has garnered attention for large-scale works like the Coca Cola Project and Tank Project.

The exhibition will be followed by two young Chinese artists’ shows later in the year, with further editions throughout 2016 and beyond.

If you go

10 am-7 pm, Tuesday to Sunday, through Aug 9. UCCA, 798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district. 010-5780-0200.