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Lot Essay
“The river is my favourite subject matter. To me, it is the physical manifestation that represents the definition of time”. - Huang Yuxing
In a sea of psychedelic neon colours, undulating lights sparkle with ghostly allure. At the centre of the painting where the sky meets the water, an oval in rose colour radiates like the sun while the ripples carry its rays into the distant. A small and three-dimensional painting is embedded in the middle of this large-scale work. The face on the small painting grimaces as if his soul is trying to break free from the canvas in order to reach broader horizons. Agitated yet calm, Huang Yuxing’s large-scale work Enlightening encompasses many of his iconic visual treatments. With his layered nuances and optically dazzling brushwork, the artist creates a scorching fantasy that is spacious and full of hope.
Huang Yuxing’s sensitive use of colours and rendering fills the picture with dynamism and richly-detailed layers. Light and shadow, threedimensionality, gestures and actions, warmth and other sensations of synesthesia are achieved through his semi-abstract expressions, and these strangely familiar forms deeply resonate with the viewers. The imageries of Enlightening are reminiscent of the majesty of the universe, the milky way galaxy, and the ocean. In microscopic scale, it also alludes to networks of blood vessels, musculoskeletal systems, and cells. Such broad associations enable the viewer to feel lifeforces and experiences that are beyond visual stimulations. Using the middle line of the painting as an axis, bubbles in rosy hue blossom into a tapestry of sinuous lines. Such sophisticated composition infuses the picture with a strong sense of energy that allows the viewer to experience the perpetual vitality of the universe.
The luminous streaks of Enlightening unfold like a contemporary epic poem that is full of pathos and unknown. At the centre this painting, Huang Yuxing embedded a small painting-object. This ingenious feature highlights the existential spirituality of an individual within the immensity of the universe.
Huang Yuxing once said, “The river is my favourite subject matter. To me, it is the physical manifestation that represents the definition of time”. Works from the River series feature currents flowing horizontally across the picture plane. This work differs from the River series in the way that water seems to flow towards the source of light at the centre of the painting and recede into the distant. The aura around the face on the small painting wrestles with the source of light in the water. Subsequently, another image of the face is cast on the big painting. As the two faces intertwine, they are guided by a torrent of light into the new world.
From the early period of his creative work, with his appropriation of realistic images, to his gradual development of a more radiant and emotional abstraction, Huang Yuxing's creative outlook has always been rooted in his thinking about the relationship between people and their world. Huang hopes, in the raging torrents of our world's often bizarre and absurd history, to capture just a few moments of its flow, to show the difficult-to-grasp state of human affairs. With the masterful use of a kaleidoscopic palette and the meticulous conception of mixed-media elements that confounds the mind, Huang Yuxing was able to crystallise his monumental contemplations of the universe, time, the self, and the future in the work Enlightening.
In a sea of psychedelic neon colours, undulating lights sparkle with ghostly allure. At the centre of the painting where the sky meets the water, an oval in rose colour radiates like the sun while the ripples carry its rays into the distant. A small and three-dimensional painting is embedded in the middle of this large-scale work. The face on the small painting grimaces as if his soul is trying to break free from the canvas in order to reach broader horizons. Agitated yet calm, Huang Yuxing’s large-scale work Enlightening encompasses many of his iconic visual treatments. With his layered nuances and optically dazzling brushwork, the artist creates a scorching fantasy that is spacious and full of hope.
Huang Yuxing’s sensitive use of colours and rendering fills the picture with dynamism and richly-detailed layers. Light and shadow, threedimensionality, gestures and actions, warmth and other sensations of synesthesia are achieved through his semi-abstract expressions, and these strangely familiar forms deeply resonate with the viewers. The imageries of Enlightening are reminiscent of the majesty of the universe, the milky way galaxy, and the ocean. In microscopic scale, it also alludes to networks of blood vessels, musculoskeletal systems, and cells. Such broad associations enable the viewer to feel lifeforces and experiences that are beyond visual stimulations. Using the middle line of the painting as an axis, bubbles in rosy hue blossom into a tapestry of sinuous lines. Such sophisticated composition infuses the picture with a strong sense of energy that allows the viewer to experience the perpetual vitality of the universe.
The luminous streaks of Enlightening unfold like a contemporary epic poem that is full of pathos and unknown. At the centre this painting, Huang Yuxing embedded a small painting-object. This ingenious feature highlights the existential spirituality of an individual within the immensity of the universe.
Huang Yuxing once said, “The river is my favourite subject matter. To me, it is the physical manifestation that represents the definition of time”. Works from the River series feature currents flowing horizontally across the picture plane. This work differs from the River series in the way that water seems to flow towards the source of light at the centre of the painting and recede into the distant. The aura around the face on the small painting wrestles with the source of light in the water. Subsequently, another image of the face is cast on the big painting. As the two faces intertwine, they are guided by a torrent of light into the new world.
From the early period of his creative work, with his appropriation of realistic images, to his gradual development of a more radiant and emotional abstraction, Huang Yuxing's creative outlook has always been rooted in his thinking about the relationship between people and their world. Huang hopes, in the raging torrents of our world's often bizarre and absurd history, to capture just a few moments of its flow, to show the difficult-to-grasp state of human affairs. With the masterful use of a kaleidoscopic palette and the meticulous conception of mixed-media elements that confounds the mind, Huang Yuxing was able to crystallise his monumental contemplations of the universe, time, the self, and the future in the work Enlightening.