Wu Chen: March 32nd

Qiao Space and Magician Space are pleased to present Wu Chen’s solo exhibition ‘March 32nd’. The exhibition that curated by independent curator Yang Zi will showcase 27 works completed from 2014 to 2022.

Wu Chen’s paintings refer to the image structure in art history and absorb the extended parts connected from broader visual materials, whether caricatures, new year pictures, advertisements, or even games. Those visual representations of contemporary popular culture, weaken the sense of solidity and depth in the art from the late Middle Ages to Renaissance referenced by Wu and flatten the image. Even though they incorporate image archives from varied sources, Wu’s paintings do not attempt to emphasize impressive monumentality, religious significance, or dazzling humanism. His paintings do not set lofty goals but cynical clumsiness which suggest a shocking point: clumsiness already exists in great and exquisite classical paintings but has been long overlooked by people. Flowing and stray lines sprinkle his paintings, like children’s naïve graffiti, dividing the edge of things and supplementing the dimension of the image. These lines resemble the winding traces of writing, embodying rhythm changes that are sometimes smooth and sometimes stagnant; they sculpt the virtual space behind the canvas, toward or away from the viewer. The temporal dimension in art is also revealed by these seductive lines. Gazing at those lines, we seem to be able to revolve around them and indulge in the joy of weightlessness. The awareness of the scale of time and its tension are thus forgotten.

Wu Chen (b.1983, Henan) currently lives and works in Beijing and Chengdu. His paintings evoke a miscellaneous array of ‘artist portraits’ and layered references culled from sources as varied as picture handbooks to exquisite illustrations from art history. Layer by layer they undergo a child-like process of distortion and reassembly, causing one to wonder at the morbidity of such a whimsical sense of imagination.

Major solo exhibitions include: March 32nd, Qiao Space, Shanghai(2023); Therefore, the Lonely God Can Only be the Orphan of God, Magician Space, Beijing (2020); Positions Sector, Art Basel Miami, Miami, USA (2019); Bad Man Can Also End Up in Heaven, Magician Space, Beijing (2017); Matisse’s Skirt, Magician Space, Beijing (2014).

Major group exhibitions include: Zoo | Amusement Park, Cloud Art Museum, Shenzhen (2023); BOOMERANG–OCAT Biennale 2021, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen (2021); 2020 – SONG ART INVITATION EXHIBITION, Song Art Museum, Beijing (2020); TRAVERSE·COURSE – 2016 HUAYU YOUTH AWARD, Art Sanya, Sanya (2016); The First Dao Jiao New Art Festival, XI Contemporary Art Center, Guangdong (2016); The 6th Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu International Conference and Exhibition Centre, Chengdu (2013); Carousel, Times Art Museum, Beijing (2011); The 3rd Terna Contemporary Art Award, Rome (2010); Creative M50 Exhibition, M50 Creative District, Shanghai (2009); ‘Jiong’ – Expressions and Attitudes, the 3rd Shanghai Duolun Youth Art Exhibition, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai (2008); “Youth China” Contemporary Art Exhibition, Art Museum of University Heidelberg, Heidelberg (2008).

Museum and Public Collections: White Rabbit Contemporary Chinese Art Collection, AUS; Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu, CN; K11 Art Foundation, CN; SSSSTART, CN; Beijing 798 Art Foundation, CN.