ART-PRESENTATION: Zhuang Hong Yi-Seasons

The blend of Chinese and Western cultural influences in Zhuang Hong Yi’s work reflects his upbringing and education in China followed by years of European experience and inspiration since his move to the Netherlands in 1990, A love of flowers is in abundant evidence throughout Hong Yi’s work and links the two dominant cultural influences of his life.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Absolute Art Gallery

While the Netherlands’ relationship with flowers is well documented, in China flowers are uniquely symbolic, representing growth, fulfillment and prosperous beginnings, as well as manifesting good Chi. In “Seasons” his solo exhibition at Absolute Art Gallery, Zhuang Hong Yi presents works from his “Flowers” series. In this series, Zhuang has developed his technique from working with a single uniform color to creating dual and triple colored works that subtely shift from one dominant color to another as you move your body and eyes from one side of the work to the other, adding movement and a visual tactileness to the works. The works on show toe the line between painting and sculpture, and they are incredibly tactile; you can see how he has hand-manipulated each petal of rice paper, you can see the fingerprints in the acrylic, and the smears of color where he has lashed his hand across the canvas. From a distance the colors shimmer iridescently and as the viewer moves across the work, the colors shift and change, transforming the image. From a closer vantage point, the meticulously twisted paper flowers and layers of paint take center stage. Utilizing the traditional Chinese material of rice paper, the works represent Chinese aesthetics, meditations on color, nature and form, whilst the emphasis on technique and uniformity and the focus on his handling of material are all lessons adopted from the Sichuan College of Fine Arts where he first studied. Zhuang Hong Yi was born in 1962 in Sichuan, China. After he finished his artistic education at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute – the oldest and one of the most prestigious art academies in China, he and his wife (the artist Lu Luo) moved to Groningen, where they both became apprentices at the Minerva Academy. After finishing his studies in 1997, Zhuang quickly received recognition as an artist. After many years living in Europe, Zhuang has not weakened his ties with China. In fact he still has a studio in Beijing, where he travels regularly to work, immersed in his culture of origin.

Info: Absolute Art Gallery, Dijver 4-5, Brugge, Duration: 9-31/12/17, Days & Hours: Thu-Tue 11:00-18:30, www.absoluteartgallery.com