THE MAPS——He Gong Solo Exhibition

The artistic conception of He Gong derives from historicism, through the archeology of knowledge, narrative structure, and metaphor as the embodiment of his art expression. The Maps—He Gong Solo Exhibition was held from 2022.3.12-7.17 at the Chengdu LAM (Luxehills Art Museum), and was curated by Tian Meng. The exhibition presented multi-media works involving large-scale paintings, installations, and videos based on grand narrative and symbolic metaphors. Time was the determining element in the layout of artworks throughout four floors of exhibition space. Influential books for the artist include Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and On the Road① by Jack Kerouac, both books which depict a nomadic lifestyle such as the artist has engaged in throughout his life. This life experience manifests in the artist’s creative practice as well, and we see before us a map of the artist’s personal journey. He Gong resisted the historical, political, and cultural shaping of his individual identity. Rather, the artist defines himself as a ‘conceptual nomad.’ His art embodies autonomy and independence, as well as a historical montage landscape associated with survival, expressing his worries, doubts and redemptions of the ruins of the humanistic spirit, as we watch for an uncertain future. The map guides viewers in an approach to a new world .

When I first encountered He Gong, I felt as if I were meeting with Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter, as the artist guided us through the installation St. Mary’s Mayflower Potosí. Potosí was the most significant silver capital in the world, and boxes refer to standard units of containers. In the flagship of Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas, a slight sense of vertigo and discomfort slowly opens the curtain on the New World.

In a cross-cultural② context, reflections on identity as “trans-experience” run through the context of He Gong’s entire corpus of artworks. A line in The Rice Field Diary is translated from Bai Juyi’s poem: “I turn my head and hurry home—Back to the court and market, a single grain of rice falling – into the great barn.” Echoing how ‘rice’ as an Asian eating habit and cultural symbol maintains the connection between nomads and their homeland as cultural identity traces back to food traditions.

Rice Field Diary, Installation, Dimensions variable, 1997, Muti-media

Installation artwork, Rice Field Diary, cites historical images made from the cow dung collected from Tibetan region. The artwork depicts themes such as McDonalds, the  “Hippie Movement”, and the Woodstock Festival by juxtaposing 100 videos, each embedded within the cow dung. The use of these materials indicates the impact of fast food culture, as well as the irony of materialism and consumerism.

THE WALL, Installation, Dimensions variable, 2018, Muti-media

“Huayang-made” is constituted by two airplanes made of cowhide and tobacco paste, wearing ridiculous camouflage pants and ‘chicken feet.’ This coincides with the absurdity of launching a ‘massacre.’ Spatulas and land boots were the parts of the ‘forward motivation,’ and these ready-made materials within the installation powerfully convey He Gong’s doubts and worries about history.

Huayang-made, Installation, 600×600×250cm/ 800×800×150cm, 2022, Muti-media

The history of different eras reflects disparate historical views that convey the development process of intellectual history. He Gong uses symbolic and metaphorical visual language to express experiences of age and memory. The relationship between changes taking place in contemporary society and those that have occurred throughout past history appears in his multi-media expression as scenes of ruins, focal events, or intercepted cultural symbols. In the frequent handover of cultural geography, features of cultural globalization move effortlessly to and fro in diverse artistic contexts.

The definition of “third space” by Said ③ has made a profound impact on artist He Gong, and his early nomadic life pushes him to a state of ‘boundary creation’(conceptual nomad). He does not approve of the past, nor does he belong to present. Nietzsche once claimed that, “our body is a social structure.” The ego is a product of various cultural elements and physical body structures. The customs, norms, and habits of our environments shape us. However, this process of molding and shaping of views has not worked on He Gong, who often crosses geographical and cultural boundaries, relieving anxieties concerning identity.

The title of this exhibition, “Map”, is not only a creative element appearing many times throughout He Gong’s work, but also a sandbox for his research into geopolitics, human migration, and differences in cultural identity. This title is also a manifestation of the artist’s thoughts and concepts. Through this guided ‘map,’ viewers can ride through a ‘third space’ between past and future as we roam through this expansive archaeological site.

Artist manuscript 

References