PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NanHai Art presents:
2092: Tale of Moon Trip – A Solo Project of Kunlin He
At VOLTA New York 2020
METROPOLITAN WEST, 639 WEST 46TH STREE @ 12TH AVE
BOOTH # 2.11
DATES
Wednesday, March 4 – Sunday, March 8, 2020
PREVIEW
Guest of Honor & Press Preview
Wednesday, March 4, 2 – 4 PM
VIP Preview
Wednesday, March 4, 4 – 6 PM
Public Vernissage
Wednesday, March 4, 6 – 9 PM
REGULAR HOURS
Thursday, March 5 –Saturday, March 7
12 – 8 PM
Sunday, March 8
12 – 5 PM
NanHai Art is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings and videos by Mainland China-born, San Francisco based artist Kunlin He in Volta NY. In Kunlin’s new project, "2092: Tale of moon trip”, based on the special landscapes that Kunlin finds on the Google Moon, the artist fictions a lunar tour guide to describe the fairy tale of the history of moon settlers to the tourists from the earth. The theme of the stories is about belief, visual experience, love, death, gender, environmental issues, and the local of lunar art on the moon. The artist rethinks the problems faced by Chinese immigrants in historical time through the high-density reality brought about by the theme of imaginary science fiction. At the same time, he uses the skill of sci-fi as well as the language of formalism painting to metaphorize the contribution of the group to the Chinese diaspora modern artists who are far from the context of social realism after 1949. Addressing the intersection of technology, drawing, and Chinese modern aesthetic, Kunlin criticizes the modern ink movement and its history which has been under the control of the official and mainstream culture in modern and contemporary China, through the use of abstract ink painting and the masculinity of calligraphy performance. Unlike traditional literati painters who focus on their internality and pure aesthetics, the artist contemplates and reflects how the Chinese modern art is involved in the urgent geopolitical issues at the moment.
ABOUT KUNLIN HE
Born in Nanchang, China, Kunlin He currently lives in San Francisco, CA. His work focuses on redefining Asian identities, territories, borders, nationalisms, as well as Chinese masculinity in traditional art and philosophy, in his visual and media-based conceptual art. He is also interested in revealing the hybridity and heterogeneity of Chinese identities in the context of globalization, using the resources of East Asian traditional cultures and culture studies.
He received a BFA in Environmental Design from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China in 2014, an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 2016 and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2018. He work has been included exhibition at The Drawing Center (2018, 2019), Headlands Center for the Art (2017), Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco (2016), among others. He has been selected the finalists for the 2019 SFMOMA SECA Award and receive the various Residency fellowship at Headlands Center for the Art, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Macdowell Colony, MASS MoCA. His works are in the permanent collection in Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Achieve (BAMPFA), and the de Saisset Museum. He is also a writer who focuses on Chinese modern and contemporary art and his articles were published in Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Artforum China, among others.
About NanHai Art
NanHai Art is an art gallery that specializes in Chinese contemporary art. It focuses on introducing the artworks that reflect the unique aesthetics of Chinese art while transcending cultural and artistic boundaries with a contemporary sensibility. Currently located in Millbrae, California, it provides an easy access for the Greater San Francisco and Silicon Valley audience.
