HAY WIRE: Hong Chun Zhang Solo Exhibition

What:

Opening Reception Final Friday, January 27 | 5 to 9 p.m. | Remarks at 7:30 p.m. INSIGHT Art Talk Wednesday, February 8 | 7 p.m. "Hay Wire” is a site specific project made for the Lawrence Arts Center. This body of new work includes one large charcoal drawing, two oil paintings and three Chinese ink paintings as well as one installation piece. The idea for this series comes from my life experiences both in urban China and rural Kansas. I mix my Chinese heritage, aesthetics, and identity with my new home in the mid-west and in middle kingdom. The horizontal charcoal drawing “Prairie Waves” is attached with two rolled out hay bales at the ends that are similar to the wooden dowels and the format of a traditional Chinese scroll painting. This piece (3f x 20f) is hung on one side of the wall in the bigger gallery and the image of hair looks like the waves of prairie grass from a distance. The three Chinese ink paintings “Flint Hairs” are hung side by side on the opposite wall in the same gallery. Each painting is 2ft x 6ft with a horizontal composition. From a distance, the images looks like Kansas Flint Hills, once you get closer, you will see the landscape covered with fine details of hair. Each piece is little different from the other. They can stand alone as three individual pieces and can be viewed as one group. This series is the mixture of Kansas concept and the beauty of Chinese fine style ink painting medium. There are two oil paintings “Hair” and “Hay” (5f x 5f each) hanging in the back of the same gallery. I want to show the difference and the similarity between the two paintings in terms of composition, color and imagery. The bigger gallery (my Kansas room) represents the open space and the flow of the Kansas landscape. The installation piece in the smaller gallery (my China room), however, reveals the sometimes claustrophobic and chaotic aspects of Chinese urbanization. The massive electric wires are placed sporadically on the wall and connected to the telephone poles at the corners. Two charcoal drawings of vanishing electric poles are painted directly on the ends of the opposite walls. Therefore, the viewers feel like they can walk into the work itself as the pole lined road continues. The cluttered and massive amount of commercial advertizing and posters are found on most bill boards, available wall spaces as well as power and telephone poles. These are very real aspects of Chinese city life. I attempt to replicate this part of urban development by putting up Chinese posters and advertisements on the electric poles and scatted on the gallery floor. I want the viewers to experience this overwhelmed and semi-controlled Chinese urban environment in the smaller gallery space.

Where:

940 New Hampshire
Lawrence KS

Category:

Art Galleries & Exhibits

When:

Thursday, March 8 @ 9:00 am

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