Mao Yan 毛焰

By The Edge 臨淵

12/F, H Queen’s
80 Queen’s Road Central
June 8 – July 12, 2018

Artist Reception: June 7, 6–8 PM

Pace Gallery Hong Kong is pleased to present By The Edge, Mao Yan’s first solo show in Hong Kong. Consisting of a series of ten new works completed in 2018, By The Edge follows the artist’s previous exhibitions with Pace in Beijing and New York.

Mao Yan is considered one of China’s outstanding contemporary artists. In 1991, after graduating from the Oil Painting Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Mao Yan began teaching at Nanjing University of the Arts, where he began to delve into portraiture. In his article Explorations in Realism, renowned art critic Li Xianting named Mao Yan as the representative of Chinese Neo-realism, stating that his works depict the “portraits of a generation whose emotions are gradually disappearing.”

毛焰新作展于佩斯画廊于今年3月揭幕的香港新空间举办开幕预览。是次展览「临渊」将展出艺术家2018年完成的10幅油画新作，其中包括艺术家着名的托马斯系列的延续，以及在毛焰的作品中展现更广阔发展的静物和山水画。

作为中国当代最重要的画家之一，毛焰持续探索肖像绘画在当代的表达潜质，以极具辨识度的技法刻画着时代表征背后的人类共性的精神世界。毛焰被批评家栗宪庭誉为中国新写实主义的代表人物，佩斯画廊曾于2013年、2015年先后在北京、纽约为其举办个展。

在他的作品中，毛焰用细腻细腻的笔触描绘了日常生活的面貌，引导观众进入一个反思快节奏世界的沉思和安宁的时代。与此同时，他的作品在肖像画艺术中具有尊重历史和遗产价值的精髓。展览中的每一幅作品都展现了毛焰标志性的灰色色调。随着油画层次和渗透，具体和明确的主题逐渐转化为抽象的类比。在两幅肖像和静物中，毛焰表达了他的笔触与情感，创造力和存在主义探索之间的深刻联系。他的诗意笔法将肖像，物体和风景转化为超越现实的精神媒介。

本次展览展出了艺术家最知名的“托马斯”肖像系列作品中的最新作品。

自1998年以来，毛焰一直将来自欧洲的国际学生托马斯作为模特，托马斯的肖像在过去的二十年里一直被描绘，深化和摒弃，直到主体被转化为模棱两可的模糊的几乎想象的脸。毛焰的画不是在场景中勾勒出模型，而是以他亲自拍摄的照片为基础。这种习惯揭示了艺术家创作的本质。对他来说，绘画是一个私人过程。在对具体物体进行视觉表现方面非常耐心，艺术家发起了一次内心的自我对话。只有通过他对自己的精神世界和人类的命运的真诚关怀，才能通过这种令人沮丧和自我怀疑的绘画过程来推动艺术本身的真正力量。引用中国诗人韩东的话说：他并没有在现有的层面上寻求共识，也没有从未来的幻想中寻求任何有利的答案。他更像是一个旅行者，他转过身来，仿佛他的目的地已经落在绘画史的深处。

Mao Yan: By The Edge

Pace Gallery is pleased to present By the Edge,Mao Yan’s third show with Pace, following the artist’s previous exhibitions in Beijing and New York. The show presents a series of ten new works completed in the past three years, including a continuation of the artist’s renowned Thomas series, as well as still-life and landscape paintings that present a broader development in Mao Yan’s oeuvre. There will be an opening reception in the presence of the artist from 6pm to 8pm on Thursday, 7 June, 2018, and the exhibition will be open for public viewing until 12 July, 2018.

Mao Yan is widely considered as one of the most preeminent contemporary artists in China. In his work, Mao Yan depicts everyday faces with fine and delicate brushstrokes, guiding his audience to enter an era of meditation and tranquility against the fast-paced world. In conjunction with this, his works hold an essence of revere for the historical and heritage value within the art of portraiture. Each of the exhibited works displays Mao Yan’s signature aesthetic of gray ashen tones. Along with layers and infiltration of oil paint, the concrete and explicit subjects are gradually translated into an abstracted analogy. Within both the portraits and still-life pieces, Mao Yan conveys a profound connection between his brushstrokes and emotions, creativity and an existential exploration. His poetic strokes transform portraits, objects and landscapes into a spiritual medium that surpasses the reality.

The exhibition presents the latest works within the artist’s most well-known portrait series, Thomas. Since 1998,Mao Yan has been using Thomas, originally an international student from Europe, as a model. The portraits of Thomas have been depicted, deepened and dismantled repeatedlythroughout the past two decades until the subject is transformed into an ambiguous, vague and nearly imaginary face. Instead of sketching the model on the scene, Mao Yan’s paintings are often based on photographs he personally took. The habit reveals the essence of the artist’s creation. To him, painting is a private process. Being extremely patient in composing a visual representation of concrete objects, the artist initiates an inner self-conversation. Only through his sincere concern over not only his own spiritual world but also the destiny of all human beings can he impel the earnest power of art itself by this frustrating and self-doubting process of painting.To quote the Chinese poet, Han Dong, “he does not seek for agreement in the existing dimension, nor seek for any supportive answer from the illusion of future. He is more like a traveler, who turns and wanders around, as if his destination is fallen deep inside the history of paintings.”

Mao Yan(b. 1968, Hunan, China) graduated from the Oil Painting Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 1991. Named as the representative of Chinese Neo-realism by the renowned art critic Li Xianting, Mao Yan continuously explores the potential of portrait paintings in the contemporary art scene. With highly a recognizable painting style, the artist depicts the spirit in humanity beyond characteristics of a specific era of time. Mao Yan’s works have been showcased in many Chinese and International exhibitions, including joint solo exhibition He Duoling & Mao Yanat Nanjing Art Institute Art Museum (2014), Ethos: Mao Yan Works, Art & Public in Geneva (2012),30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art at the Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2010), Longing for More: Mao Yan Solo Exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum (2009), andTodays’ China at Beivue Museum in Brussels (2008). Also, many of Mao Yan’s works have gone to well-known public collections, such as Yuz Foundation,Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum ofArt, Shanghai Long Museum, and Hong Kong M+ Museum. Mao Yan lives and works in Nanjing, China. He has been represented by Pace since 2013.

Paceis a leading contemporary art gallery representing many of the most significant international artists and estates of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Under the leadership of President and CEO Marc Glimcher, Pace is a vital force within the art world and plays a critical role in shaping the history, creation, and engagement with modern and contemporary art. Since its founding by Arne Glimcher in 1960, Pace has developed a distinguished legacy for vibrant and dedicated relationships with renowned artists. As the gallery approaches the start of its seventh decade, Pace’s mission continues to be inspired by our drive to support the world’s most influential and innovative artists and to share their visionary work with people around the world.

Pace advances this mission through its dynamic global program, comprising ambitious exhibitions, artist projects, public installations, institutional collaborations, and curatorial research and writing. Today, Pace has ten locations worldwide: three galleries in New York; one in London; one in Geneva; one in Palo Alto, California; one in Beijing; two in Hong Kong; and one in Seoul. Pace will open a new flagship gallery in New York, anticipated for completion in fall 2019. In 2016, Pace joined with Futurecity to launch Future/Pace – an international cultural partnership innovating multidisciplinary projects for art in the public realm.