On the afternoon of January 21, 2022, the opening ceremony of "Wang Huangsheng: Traces the Origin of the Pearl River/Plant Landscape" was held at Shangrong Fine Arts. According to reports, the "Wang Huangsheng Pearl River Traceability 1984/2022" tour exhibition passed through Guilin Station, Kunming Station, Guiyang Station, and the last stop finally returned to Guangdong - the starting point of the river more than 30 years ago.
Poster of the exhibition "Wang Huangsheng: Tracing the Origins of the Pearl River/Botanical Landscape"
In 1984, Wang Huangsheng and his friend Li Yi rode a bicycle to trace the Pearl River, and "Xiaocheng Wenqing" challenged himself and rebelled against life in an unusual way. More than 70 days of traveling more than 3300 kilometers, at an altitude difference of more than 2000 meters on the way, every day pedaling, pushing, panting, sweating, climbing mountains, crossing the valley bottom, walking barren slopes, Suye shop... Painting, photographing, writing, discussing, collecting plant specimens, leaving a large number of materials with chronology, regional thinking and personal unique perspectives, not only become a living archive to witness the social and humanistic process, but also constitute a set of precious materials for today's study of the cultural, geographical and historical issues of the Pearl River.
During the epidemic prevention and control period in 2020, Wang Huangsheng inadvertently re-encountered the diaries and paintings sealed in the corner of the drawer, which was planned and co-organized by Shang Rong, and a "Pearl River Traceability" touring exhibition along the four regions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan was born. This is a living archive of the social and humanistic process pulled out by an individual action across time and space, and it is also a full and deep review of the spiritual world.
Garden of Memory - 2105, 2021 Ink Rubbing, 138x69cm
The group of works "Pearl River Traceability/Plant Landscape" originated from the plant specimens collected by Wang Huangsheng in 1984 at the source of the Pearl River as a life and emotion imprint preserved in a diary. Wang Huangsheng returned to the Pearl River source in 2021 and continued the practice of that year, collecting plant specimens, converting them into images and paintings, and recording the state and texture of plants in ancient ink and rubbing methods.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Lee Commented on Wang Huangsheng's "transition from traditional ink to new ink, demonstrating his strong ability to travel through various art theories." Chang Fang, the curator of this exhibition, also wrote in the preface, "Wang Huangsheng's "Plant Landscape" this group of works, with the wonderful consultation of the contemporary transformation of traditional ink painting, transforms traditional themes into contemporary vocabulary, subverts our cognition, and shows the different paradigms and levels of his concern for art history. ”
The Garden of Memory - 210901, 2021 Ink Rubbing, 124x124cm
Regarding The Garden of Memory, Wang Huangsheng wrote: "For a long time, I have been recounting the memory of my father's working life in northern Guangdong, and hope to create new works related to 'life memory'... I hope to use plant rubbing, illusory colors, positive and negative image methods, etc. to create the garden of life in my heart that is mixed with emotions, years, memories, fantasies, etc. ”
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Wang Huangsheng said, "First of all, I would like to thank the Pearl River, which is the mother river of many of us here. I was fortunate to be able to approach the Pearl River more than thirty years ago, and I learned a lot on the Pearl River, and I left behind many immature paintings and texts about the Pearl River. More than thirty years is a long stage for my life, and what the Pearl River has left me is how to face life, face society, and face life. ”
The exhibition returns to Guangzhou, not only about nostalgia, but also about the meaning of time. "Guangzhou is also my blessed land, I was born in Shantou, after finishing university, I came to Guangzhou to work. This time to do this exhibition, it is also the friends and entrepreneurs in Shantou, Guangzhou, taking the lead and supporting, so that I can finish it. For a person, time is both a continuous passage and a process of accumulation, more than thirty years ago when I walked the Pearl River, I was very young, and now I look back at the immature words and paintings at that time, and time seems to make them more meaningful and fuller. ”
Nandu reporter Zhou Peiwen intern Chen Yue