WHAT
The Chinese conceptual artist’s new exhibition is a multi-media presentation. Works from his newest 2022 series, ‘Micro Sentence’, are presented to the public for the first time, together with the artist’s most representative ‘Reciprocating and Everchanging Appearance’ series, and his acclaimed ‘The Realm of Matters’ series. As one of the most active conceptual artists in China since the late 1990s, the artist is known for his dexterous and witty handling of ready-made materials, invigorating the Chinese contemporary art scene with his practice. Over the past decade, the artist has increasingly focused on the expressive potential of the material itself, continuing his observation and reflection on the social construction of value.

WHY
Through his practice, Hong often explores the dialectical relationships between appearance and substance, between the tangible and the intangible, between generation and annihilation. His work examines the constructed nature of social ideas and offers a contemplative pause of the consumption and consumer culture by manifesting materiality in its own right. On his canvases featuring porcelain fragments, the artist has left some indecipherable sentences that originate from slogans of modern Western thought or the reflective philosophical aphorisms of the ancient East. In his characteristically-playful style, he brings contemporary and personal subjects into conversation with long and complex material and cultural histories.