Liu Chuan: Lumbering
Beijing
16 Sep. 2023 - 15 Oct. 2023
Liu Chuan: Lumbering
Artists: Liu Chuan
Duration：16 Sep. 2023 - 15 Oct. 2023
Opening: 4pm, 16 Sep. (Sat.), 2023
Hunsand Space (Beijing) is delighted to present Liu Chuan's latest solo exhibition, "Lumbering" , starting from September 16th, 2023. This exhibition showcases a selection of the artist's works from the past three years, predominantly expressed through the medium of painting. Liu Chuan's art responds to personal experiences, identity, labor, crises, and other deeply felt sensations, encompassing various themes and expressions.
The title "Lumbering" originates from a piece created by Liu Chuan before the exhibition, titled "Lumberjacks" The artwork faintly reveals a modern-dressed young person wielding an early lumberjack tool, an axe, beginning a day of repetitive work. Regardless of the roles we assume in society or the apparent advancement of our tools, we find ourselves repeatedly ensnared in the same predicament. Only the paths differ, and the individual experiences vary. The resemblance between creation and lumbering lies in their shared consideration of how to manage the relationships between people, tools, and materials to extract meaning. When we step out of our roles, we contemplate more deeply the motives and necessity of labor. Liu Chuan does not choose a swift blade; time is like a dull axe, repetitively, laboriously, clumsily, and slowly... hacking away, logging, again and again.
Liu Chuan, born in 1991 in Jilin, graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Traditional Chinese Painting Department of Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in 2013, and obtained a master's degree from the Printmaking Department of China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2018. He currently lives and works in Yanjiao, Hebei. Tracing over repeated traces, viewers can follow back to a creative scene that hovers on the edge of nonexistence, perpetually unfinished. In self-examination and feedback from reality, Liu Chuan maintains vigilance, constantly experimenting, doubting, and pushing forward, a process that loops endlessly. The reluctant sense of humor in his creations is a sugarcoating wrapped around a serious core, simply for ease of consumption. The surface of the image appears simple at first but carries a lasting impact. As one gazes deeper, details gradually come to light. Liu Chuan does not deliberately emphasize technique; instead, he tries to make full use of painting to approach each precise expression.
