Chen Tianzhuo: Recollection Pierces the Heart

Tang Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Recollection Pierces the Heart”, the solo exhibition by young Chinese artist Chen Tianzhuo, at our Hong Kong gallery space. The exhibition includes Chen’s installations, videos, paintings, digital sculptures and lightbox design work. Mixing media such as dance, ritual ceremonies, fashion, literature, painting, drawing, installation, video and performance, his works incorporate religious symbols into iconographic elements, all borrowed from various urban subcultures that are shared by a global youth culture. Chen’s works surpass the realm of visual art, bringing a multi-faceted, multi-sensual experience, achieving what the artist calls “spiritual activism”.

Once acclaimed as “one of the most promising artists of his generation” by the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Chen Tianzhuo was part of the generation born in the 1980s, so he grew up in a very different context from the previous generation of Chinese artists. His life and creative growth differ greatly from the previous generation of Chinese artists. Living in an era imbued with boundless information, rapid cultural exchanges, and constant self-expression, Chen conceives art not to dismantle past creations but to reflect the current state of our rapidly changing world.

Using references and imagery from traditional mythology and contemporary culture, Chen Tianzhuo constructs a pseudo-synesthetic world with his creations. While referencing enlightenment concepts brought about by religion in the old world, the artist highlights digital technology’s effect in providing us with novel, digital, and avant-garde experiences. The relationship between body and soul as well as dream and reality explored by the artist is just as mysterious and kitsch as his parties and animistic works.