Opening Reception on May 27th – PAN Hsinhua’s Solo Exhibition: Garden of Mind (借景造園)

May 27 —

Opening Reception, Saturday, May 27th, 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Open to the Public: May 24 – July 14, 2023

May 9, 2023 (Palo Alto, CA) – Qualia Contemporary Art is pleased to present Garden of Mind (借景造園), a solo exhibition of paintings by Taiwanese artist PAN Hsinhua. The artist’s first exhibition at the gallery will feature a series of surreal landscape paintings that fuse traditional aspects of Chinese culture and philosophy with contemporary Taiwanese society and the environment. PAN collapses paradoxical and opposing elements on the picture plane, setting the scene for open-ended narratives unfettered by reality. Viewers will generate their own stories from the labyrinthine worlds depicted within the works, each one limitless in its potential for interpretation. Garden of Mind will be open to the public from May 24 – July 14, 2023, with an opening celebration hosted on May 27th from 4:30-6:30 PM PST.

PAN cites a host of references in his work, including Meticulous Painting and Thangka Painting, while forging a distinctive style all his own. Powdered mineral pigments in vibrant shades are mixed with animal glue to create bold hues with what PAN describes as “Eastern characteristics.” Innovating upon the medium’s opaque finish and limited color palette, PAN has developed a technique that broadens the range of tonalities and textures achievable with this traditional material. The rich colors that result from the artist’s carefully-honed process are reminiscent of the dynamic cave paintings in Dunhuang, weathered over hundreds of years and refined with the patina of time. PAN also adopted the method of boneless wash painting in lieu of outlining and coloring, allowing him to make large-scale works that depict spatial depth and dimension outside of realistic perspective.

From PAN’s technical execution and experimentation to his recurring visual motifs, the dialogue abounds between old and new, past and present. While PAN consciously draws from both ancient and recent history, his own position is decidedly current, situated in a context that is shaped by heritage and tradition. Complex scenes composed of cultural relics – bonsai, literati stones, incense burners, and political statuettes – religious and folk patterns, and facets of both the natural and built environments – concrete, architecture, and Taiwanese flora and fauna – all coalesce around the central figure of a small, enigmatic boy, often in surprisingly formal arrangements that belie his youth. The artist renders these imagined landscapes with a precision that masterfully blurs the entanglements between real and surreal elements.

“I wish to bring sarcasm and ridicule with a touch of humor, allowing the protagonist to pretentiously mock traditions or poetic narratives, like letting a child proceed over some form of ritual performed in the adult world, but in a serious and genuine manner.”

PAN Hsinhua

PAN’s playful configurations employ paradox to highlight the anachronism of the present moment and the complexities of contemporary culture from a Taiwanese perspective. The exhibition presents viewers with invented settings for impossible encounters between unlikely counterparts, often subverting social hierarchies and political ideologies in the process. Garden of Mind invites the public to question these foundational pillars while completing each scene with their own ideas and experiences.

About PAN Hsinhua (b. 1966 in Taimali, Taitung, Taiwan)

PAN Hsinhua graduated in 1991 from the Taipei National University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art and held a teaching position there as an assistant professor from 2011 to 2015. He is currently living and working in Taipei, Taiwan. Celebrated for his unique artistic language, PAN Hsinhua creates surrealistic paintings in the classical Chinese style. He skillfully blends both the past and the present in his artworks, examining the relevance of tradition in contemporary culture.

PAN has exhibited at Taiwan Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan in 2020, and Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu, China in 2013. He has held numerous solo exhibitions in major museums and institutions in Taiwan such as Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei; Life Science Library, Academia Sinica, Taipei; National Central University Art Center, Taoyuan; Accton Arts Foundation, Hsinchu; Art Center of Providence University, Taichung; and in Asia Arts Center, Beijing, China; among others. He was also featured in notable group exhibitions in Taiwan including Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei; National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei; Hong-gah Museum, Taipei; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung; Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center, Taoyuan; and internationally at Yinchuan MOCA, Yinchuan, China; Mitsuo Aida Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Saatchi Gallery, London, England; Canberra Museum & Gallery, Canberra, Australia; Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane, Australia; and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, New York, USA.

His works are in the collections of several institutions in Taiwan including the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung; and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung.

About Qualia Contemporary Art

Located in downtown Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley, Qualia Contemporary Art is dedicated to showcasing outstanding established and emerging artists working in a variety of media. The gallery is committed to building lasting relationships with artists, collectors, curators, and scholars nationally and internationally, and providing a vital platform for dialogues on contemporary art and culture in the Bay Area and beyond.

Location

328 University Ave

Palo Alto, CA 94301

Gallery Contact

Dacia Xu

650-656-9132

dacia@qualiagallery.com