LvShanchuan  The Unknown State

Huang Du

The “Unknown State” is a rather common topic of discussion, implying the unsolved objective existence, or the uncertain subjects under study. Either in science or sociology, or in everyday life and the field of art, it is a motivation for intellectual activity.

LvShanchuan’s solo exhibition at White Box entitled “Unknown State”, aims to explore the visual transformation and possibilities as the artist displaces his studio into the exhibition space. In other words, the exhibition is an enquiry into the different context/space where the artwork is produced and presented that lead to ambiguous semantic changes of an artwork. In particular, if the studio is a private space, then White Box is the public space. Based on the referential relationship established between artwork under different context/space, the artist’s practice (in the studio) is comparable to a “rehearsal”, while the sense of presence in the public space (exhibition space) is like a “performance”.

Thus, LvShanchuan commences from a total concept, displacing paintings/installations, to change the viewers’ way of looking at the artworks, showing the willful and natural state of his paintings, presence and traces to allow the viewers to enter his spiritual world, as he establishes an interaction of the “unknown state” between the viewer and the artist. In other words, the individual practice becomes a “public event”, and the viewers become its participants. Such displacement and replacement in some ways subverts the conventional visual experience and order in the public space (exhibition space).

LvShanchuan’s basis for painting is related to images of current news and incidents, while the images are his personal choices. The artist’s view is a skeptic one, which probes and inquires into iconography through painting, in order to reveal the hidden aspects behind certain incidents and news, that synchronizes with the objective reality of the “unknown state”.

LvShanchuan’s painting departs from the modernist angle and adopts expressionist approach. He fully expresses a strong individual sentiment, through the thickness of the paint, the dynamic brushworks, and the structural power to emphasize the movement and restlessness or unease on his images. Of course, his paintings have shown the sculptural strength and architectural monumentality, embodying the “depth of time”. Other than relying on adding and overlapping materials on the image (paint), he also reflects the movement in body language that intervenes on the painting to postulate the question and answers for the semiotics, outcomes, individuality and reality of the “unknown state”. In this sense, LvShanchuan’s paintings come from self-media, while they inquire into the power of media – we do not control the media, but are controlled by it.

Wangjing Studio

October 14, 2015