White Without White
Duration: 05/28/2021-07/15/2021
Venue: W.ONE SPACE, Shenzhen
On May 28, 2021, the exhibition "White Without White" will be presented in W.ONE SPACE, which is the frst exhibition after the launch of the “One, Two, Three” series based on the concept of Tao. This exhibition specially invited Dr. Xia Kejun as the curator, with the four dialogues between ancient and modern, Chinese and Western art as the exhibition theme, to present anexhibition that is purer and more extreme.
This exhibition consists of 27 most representative white porcelain wares in China, together with the art works of seven contemporary artists, Qiu Shihua, Liang Shaoji, Shang Yang, Sui Jianguo, Liu Guofu, Caro Jost, and Christiane Grimm, to create a dialogue feld that spans time and history.
"White Without White”is about the attitude of leaving space, and is also the original ethical attitude of giving space to the world and others. This exhibition will present four "dialogues" around "white space" : “blank space" of classical Chinese art; "porcelain white" in Chinese utensils aesthetics; Western contemporary "white" paintings; and Chinese contemporary "InfraColor Painting". With this quadripartite white, interactive dialogue happens in the space.
White, snow white, empty white, white light, blank white, jade white, white is divided into fve colors, and that has been generally turned into a "white heart" supreme sense, a general artistic philosophy concept. A painting by Wu Hufan inherits the appreciation of beauty from Song Dynasty. It is moist and white, supported by mist and clouds, together make it rich and magnifcent. Another example is Huang Gongwang's "The Jiufeng Snow Figure Painting", pulling people from the hot summer back to the empty cold poetry sense. From Chinese aesthetic point of view, the role of blank must be considered in advance, somehow a "congenital" principle of Chinese philosophy. The blank is an absolute order of aesthetics.
Chinese take white porcelain as the ultimate aesthetic expression. In terms of aesthetics, the shape of the utensils shows the round fullness of the world and the perfection of pure white. From the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618) to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), the quality of white porcelain became more perfect, setting the basic tone of the porcelain in Tang Dynasty. Concentrated on the fne white porcelain from Gongyi Kiln in Henan Province and Xing Kiln in Hebei Province, the white porcelain was transparent to the light and visible to the shadow, pushing the white porcelain technology to a new height. At the same time, the Ding kiln has been created, and the milky whiteness and ivory whiteness of the Song and Jin Dynasties, as well as their fne carving and printing skills, reached the peak of Chinese utensils aesthetics.
In the section of Western contemporary "white" paintings, we exhibit the abstract works from two contemporary German female artists. The works of artists Christiane Grimm and Caro Jost both expand the perception of white painting and reinforce each other with its richness and traces of human history. In the making of seemingly abstract color blocks and traces, it brings the hazy poetry of trance and the historical warmth of what remains.
However, Chinese contemporary art needs to give its own creative principles. On one hand, it inherits the perception of Chinese blank-leaving activation. On the other hand, it communicates with the principles of western abstract art and forms a new artistic language, which is the Chinese Infra-Color Painting. When it is done to the extreme, it is also "unworking" -- what is fnally shown might be “nothing”, and what is not done triggers the surplus of "nature comes to do”. The spatial structure and art works of this exhibition have multiple echoes: between diferent materials, art works, outdoor buildings and sea water, there is a subtle sense of connection, refecting the aesthetic of the activation of virtual white and in-depth perception. The exhibition will continue to July 15, 2021.
