Gao Huijun 高惠君
From ArtSpeak China (ASC) Wiki
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[edit] Date & Place of Birth
Gao was born in 1966 in Baoding, Hebei Province.
[edit] Education & Development
In 1992 he graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Design, and then in 1994, established his studio in Songzhuang.
[edit] Art
Gao Huijun, Tiananmen, oil on canvas, 107 x 89 cm, 2005
These are not images that portray figures at leisure or protective monasteries in the mountains. Instead, Gao presents a bird, motionless and isolated from the landscape, as the only sign of life. The clawing roots of the trees cannot penetrate the rocks below. Although his subject matter incorporates both the landscape, and bird and flower traditions of Chinese painting, Gao Huijun uses meticulously applied, unnatural hues of acrylic paint on canvas rather than the traditional medium of ink on paper or silk.[1]
Comparing Gao’s Untitled 2007-# 3 to a well known 1759 scroll by Shen Quan (1682-1760) entitled Pine, Plum and Cranes, we see the striking similarity in the bird’s profiles, while emotionally responding to the striking difference in world views. Such representation of the psychological alienation of humanity from nature has its basis in actuality. Reversing the directions of the Cultural Revolution, when urban intellectuals moved to the countryside, the Chinese people are now increasingly experiencing a separation from the land. Whereas traditional Chinese painting emphasized the Taoist philosophy that called for a spiritual escape from reality into harmonious natural surroundings, today's landscapes have no place for humanity.[1]
With cheerful humor in his early works, and an elegiac visionary spirit in his more recent paintings, Gao’s imagery is distinctive from that of his contemporaries. Having exhibited and traveled extensively outside of China since 1995, Gao Huijun derives his inspiration from both traditional Chinese cultural forms and modern Western imagery. This can be seen in two of his 2005 paintings, Miro & Gao Huijin and Dali & Gao Huijin. Not only do the titles make a direct connection to the European surrealists, but his surreal world becomes an extension of theirs. Using glowing skies, grasping tree limbs and skeletal rocks, his paintings project alternative realms similar in spirit to those found in Western art of the 1930's, a time, like our own, characterized by extreme discordant realities experienced in daily life.[1]
Gao Huijun, Dreaming of the Remote, oil on canvas, 100.3 x 238.8 cm, 2007.
Explaining his place in the global art world, Gao states, "I have always been contemptuous of East–West alliances. This would imply that artists, eastern or western, are capable of mastering the quintessence of the other culture. I call it an East–West veneer. What each party can learn from the other is nothing but a superficial veneer. Personally, I use materials from both traditions: Chinese and Western. Regardless, a Westerner would never paint like me. The series on which I am presently working is directed toward a contemporary society which has lost all sense of direction…It is true to say that we are culturally disoriented." With exquisite technique and sophisticated expression, Gao Huijun's paintings present a message of existential relevance wherein contradictions of past and future, and dream and reality, are frozen in arresting images of lush visual beauty.[1]
[edit] Exhibitions
Gao has held solo shows at Soka Art Center in Taiwan and September Gallery in Beijing.
Gao's latest exhibition "A Glance of the East" was held at My Humble House in Taipei, along with Zhou Chunya, Wu Guanzhong, Wang Huaiqing, Zhao Wuji, Xi Deqing, Xu Yuren, Zheng Zaidong and Xue Song.
For Gao Huijun's full exhibition history, click here.
[edit] Gallery Affiliation(s)
Gao is represented by Cher Arts Collection Inc. in New York.
[edit] Acquisitions & Auctions
Gao's artworks have been sold through Ravanel Auction House and Sotheby's Hong Kong
For Gao Huijun's auction record, click here.
[edit] Interviews
To view a video interview of Gao with Studio Door China, click here.
