featured in Contours of Serenity

Le K 作品参与群展「物遇澄怀 」

25 September 2024

The exhibition Contours Of Serenity International Contemporary Female Artists Group Exhibition, curated by Xiangfei Yan and Ranyi Yang and hosted by LAN GALLERY, brings together works of painting, photography, sculpture, and installation by 11 contemporary young female artists from both China and abroad. The exhibition will showcase the creative processes, inner worlds, and reflections on contemporary society of these female artists.

In the midst of this chaos and disorientation, the exhibitionContours Of Serenity seeks to offer a solution to this issue by advocating for a return to the concept of "Chenghuai Guandao” from Eastern philosophy. It explores the essence of the world in a way that transcends rationality and information overload. In an era of fragmented information, these female artists, using a variety of media such as photography, painting, installation, and spatial art, delve into the complex relationships between symbols, meaning, soul, and materiality. Their works reflect unique individual experiences in confronting cultural phenomena and social structures, providing insights that reveal the unique power of art in deconstructing and redefining social phenomena.

Le K's (b.1994) work, Lit Up through the scorched wreckage of incense and the symbolic thorns tearing and extending the illusion of thorns, the work attempts to embezzle the semantic triangle from its original context, and reorganize it with the law of closure in the midst of non-assimilated individual experiences and existences. Heterogeneous semantics are proliferated through different interacting subjects, further eliminating centralized interpretations.

“物遇 澄怀” 当代国际女性艺术家群展由策展人闫项霏、杨冉夷策划，由 LAN GALLERY 承办，汇聚来自海内外11位当代女性青年艺术家的绘画、摄影、雕塑、装置等艺术品，呈现当代女性艺术家的创作过程、内心世界以及对当下社会的感知与反思。

在这个充满混乱与迷失的背景下，展览“物遇 澄怀”试图为这一问题提出解决方案，倡导回归东方哲学中的“澄怀观道”概念，以一种超越理性和信息过载的方式来探寻世界的本质。女性艺术家们通过摄影、绘画、装置和空间艺术等多种媒介，深入探讨符号、意义、灵魂和物质性之间的复杂关系。她们的作品展示了个体在面对文化现象和社会结构时的独特体验，并提供了洞见，揭示出艺术在解构与重新定义社会现象时的独特力量。

Le K（b.1994）的参展作品 Lit Up 燃烬重塑 系列作品通过线香灼烧的残缺与符号化的刺对荆棘的幻象撕裂延伸，试图将语义三角从原有的语境中挪取，与闭合法则重组于非同化的个体经验和存在当中。通过不同的交互主体增殖出异质性语义，进一步消除中心化解读。

The participating female artists not only focus on the relationship between the individual and society but also respond to the complexities of gender, identity, and power structures in contemporary society through their works. ThroughContours Of Serenity, these artists, with their unique and resolute female perspectives, reveal the inherent resilience and wisdom within their creations. Their works explore the overlooked and often invisible aspects of society, expressing the identity conflicts and emotional struggles that women face within the current social framework.The Contours Of Serenity International Contemporary Female Artists Group Exhibition, curated by Xiangfei Yan and Ranyi Yang and hosted by LAN GALLERY, brings together works of painting, photography, sculpture, and installation by 11 contemporary young female artists from both China and abroad. During the National Day holiday, the exhibition will showcase the creative processes, inner worlds, and reflections on contemporary society of these female artists.

Jean Baudrillard once described the economic and social models in modern society as a phenomenon of "implosion." He argued that with the increasing entropy of society, information and things expand continuously, occupying excessive space and meaning, until their significance becomes diluted or even disappears. This phenomenon leads to an internal collapse of society—everything seems so full of meaning that no individual thing holds any unique significance anymore. This is precisely the challenge we face today: in an era of information overload, the fragmentation of data and information makes it difficult for us to discern the true essence of things.

In the midst of this chaos and disorientation, the exhibitionContours Of Serenity seeks to offer a solution to this issue by advocating for a return to the concept of "Chenghuai Guandao” from Eastern philosophy. It explores the essence of the world in a way that transcends rationality and information overload. “Chenghuai” originates from Zen Buddhism and emphasizes the purification and clarity of the mind, while "Guandao"refers to perceiving the universal law, or the "Dao," through a clear and serene heart.

Zong Bing once pointed out that the method of attaining the "Dao" is the same as the process of artistic creation: in the act of creation, the artist must reach a state of unity between self and object, spirit and matter. This aesthetic state allows one to withdraw from the complexity of the mundane world and enter a higher level of cognition, achieving harmony with the universe.

The theme of the exhibitionContours Of Serenity is a practice and expression of this philosophical concept. The exhibition is not merely a showcase of the creative achievements of contemporary female artists, but also an attempt to rediscover intuition and perceptual abilities through artistic forms. In an era of fragmented information, these female artists, using a variety of media such as photography, painting, installation, and spatial art, delve into the complex relationships between symbols, meaning, soul, and materiality. Their works reflect unique individual experiences in confronting cultural phenomena and social structures, providing insights that reveal the unique power of art in deconstructing and redefining social phenomena.

The participating female artists not only focus on the relationship between the individual and society but also respond to the complexities of gender, identity, and power structures in contemporary society through their works. ThroughContours Of Serenity, these artists, with their unique and resolute female perspectives, reveal the inherent resilience and wisdom within their creations. Their works explore the overlooked and often invisible aspects of society, expressing the identity conflicts and emotional struggles that women face within the current social framework.

The exhibition's spatial design and multi-sensory experience further reinforce this theme. Among them, the olfactory design, which is more intimate and direct than sight and sound, offers a unique immersive experience for the audience. The scent of orchid evokes a sense of serenity and clarity, aligning with the contemplative and spiritual nature of the exhibition's theme,Contours Of Serenity. This design enables the audience to re-establish a connection between the material and the spiritual within a multi-dimensional sensory environment.

LAN GALLERY not only provides a platform for showcasing the works of female artists but also reshapes the relationship between the audience and the artwork, sparking profound reflections on contemporary identity and social roles. In an era filled with fragmented information and the overuse of symbols, the exhibition calls on people to re-examine their inner perceptions, encouraging the audience to engage with art through a clear and mindful perspective, and to better understand the world.