Reboot: ZHU Xiangmin, HAM: A2
As the spring sunshine gradually dispersed the severe winter of covid-19, Arario Shanghai will launch its first off-line exhibition Reboot after the gallery reopening. Reboot will present the latest artworks by artist ZHU Xiangmin and CHEN Yihan (HAM). The gallery will also provide a LIVE opening show through online platform ZOOM,during which, artist HAM will create a wall painting in the exhibition space to reproduce the scene where art is born.
In the beginning of 2020, the whole world hit the pause button. The steps of economic recession and cultural fragmentation has been thus accelerated that people has to face the depression and anxiety in front. However, pause cannot prevent the expectation towards exploration and pause, can only be the prelude of reboot. Facing this epidemic situation, this exhibition by presenting the inner exploration of these two artists, hopes to lead people to walk into the parallel world of art, and reboot the future.
This exhibition will present the latest artworks by two artists. Zhu Xiangmin's paintings come from a long dream with bizarreness and singularity. In the other world inside the dream, artist exile himself in this dreaming land, facing the magic and color of this exotic land. However in reality, artist collects those echoing text fragments and visual scene from literature and films, drawing figures such as skeleton, tattoo, woman and boxer etc, constructing a world of illusion that beyond the reality but where the heart desires. Ham's works depicts a legendary story of a "mad bunny". The bunny hates to be an herbivore that stays in the bottom of food chain, so it keep seeking for other foods. In artist's paintings, he tries to use fragmented scene to chase the "mad bunny". This description of story is just artist's in-depth exploration of the "self-consciousness".
Both artists starting from imagination, depict a utopia illusion and reject their inner exploration. It also seems to remind us that when the community of shared future for mankind is facing unprecedented challenges, the continuous exploration of the spiritual world will produce unexpected comfort and transfer power that leads to a "reboot" moment.
