Exhibition poster. When we look at the long river of history, it is the ups and downs of yesterday, today and tomorrow that weave itWhen we stand between the works of Li Hongbo's solo exhibition at the Anhui Provincial Art Museum, we also become part of the weaving of the "Long River" - on December 30, 2023, at the turn of the new and old years, "The Long River - Li Hongbo Solo Exhibition" opened at the Anhui Provincial Art Museum. Through the five series of works "The Long River", "Wish", "Sea of Flowers", "Logs" and "Teaching Aids", we hope to complete an artistic dialogue with the audience across time and space.
Li Hongbo, Changhe, Newspapers, Glue, Pigments, Dimensions Variable, 2017-2023
For the "long river", Li Hongbo interprets it like this:The first time I entered the huge public exhibition hall on the second floor of the Anhui Provincial Art Museum, through the tall glass windows, the scenery outside was reflected on the marble floor. The name also comes from a group of my works, "Stones", and I do many of them, because I love the pebbles on the riverbank, which lie quietly on the riverbed, or can be seen or invisible. The washing of the river and the baptism of the years have made the stubborn stone polish off the edges and corners, round or flat. The different stone quality, the pebble characteristics also have their own appearance, it doesn't matter whether it is beautiful or ugly, it is just a natural element, it is indisputable!As a result, they become part of the long river, seemingly ordinary things, but they all hide the secrets of nature.
I used newspapers to make pebbles and depicted each egg with hyper-realistic techniques, so that people could not tell which part was the rock and which part was my ingenuity. Each "pebble" is stacked with hundreds of layers of newspapers, each layer records the traces of history, but they lie there quietly, waiting for Bole to know it, waiting for everyone who understands it, or maybe they will not be seen in this life.
When the viewer breaks open the "stone" made of newspaper and twists its body, it inadvertently breaks people's cognition and thinking, bringing infinite amazement to people, as if they can read the words on every piece of newspaper, but it is intermittent, like a cloud of smoke passing by. When people restore the original appearance of the "stone" again, they will be amazed at the non-real vision and sensory psychology of what they see. Truth and falsehood are all in what you see and think.
The water is invisible, just the pebbles and ravines in the river make a portrait of the "long river", the tide recedes, and the bare ones are mostly the "stubborn stones" that have been reshaped, allowing people to recall the appearance of the long river.
The Rainbow Bridge is "vacant".
There is also a long river, which is the sustenance and expectation in people's heartsIt is the blessing card of the Confucian Temple, the wishing forest of the Renzu Temple, the branches of the stone crevices of Zhangjiajie, the wind horse flag, and the concentric lock ...... of Notre Dame CathedralEvery strip of cloth, every wooden sign, every lock represents the blessing or prayer of a person or a group of people!The temple of the hearts of those people hosts every wish that has nowhere to be placed.
The museum is also a temple for the baptism of our souls. There is a long glass plank road in the open exhibition hall on the second floor, suspended in the air with steel cables, as if it is a ladder to the sky, I invite every viewer to write their wishes here, hanging on the covered bridge, the colorful wishing strip will be plumped over time, and at the end of the exhibition, a "rainbow bridge" will be formed, which is a work that every viewer participates in, and it is a visual spectacle drawn by everyone.
The ribbon that carries the wish will not end its mission with the closing of the exhibition, it will continue to walk and enter the next artistic journey, to meet the audience again in another form of work. It can be said that this is an exhibition with no end.
The "long river" is both concrete and abstract, material and ideological, solidified and flowing, tangible and intangible, so I use tangible works to string together intangible thoughts, which flow silently with the years.
In addition to his artistic creation, Li Hongbo is also engaged in the research of ancient Chinese printmaking and ancient book art. These experiences with books and paper have deepened his understanding of paper and traditional Chinese techniques, and led him to think about the possibilities between them and the language of contemporary art. "When I aspire to create works that are both spatial and dynamic to carry my thoughts on art and challenge the previous visual experience and understanding of human beings, paper has become my preferred medium, and the traditional Chinese paper craft has inspired me and provided me with a lot of technical resources to learn from, so that I can do something that I am interested in on the basis of my predecessors. ”
Li Hongbo, Sea of Flowers, Paper, Glue, Dimensions Variable, 2012-2023
The designer of the AK47 once said, "The purpose of making *** is always to defend oneself, not to kill, and this principle cannot be questioned." If this principle can be widely accepted, the world will not need it.
Li Hongbo applies the principle of the traditional "paper gourd" to the creation of contemporary art. He used paper to make AK47 and bullets, pistols and other paper gourds, which were very confusing and colorful when unfolded, and when they were closed, they looked like **. Desire causes harm, harm leads to hatred, hatred accumulates conflict, and conflict leads to war. ** It is to prepare for war, to defend oneself and to hurt others. And all this is born of desire, and it will be destroyed by desire. In this way, life and death have formed a history of blood and tears for thousands of years, and human suffering has also been born from this. The "flower" of desire seems to be so bright and high-sounding, but can people really understand the hidden harm behind it? When the muzzle of a black hole is pointed at a living being, for whatever purpose, it means the end of a life or a painful struggle. In the face of the fall of a living being, in front of the living beings, in fact, we all lost. All living beings, strong or weak, long or short, large or small, thick or small, near or far, visible or invisible, born or to be born, should be cared for with infinite mercy, and should not cause pain to others for their own selfishness.
Li Hongbo, Nature Series – Round Wood, Paper, Glue, Pigment, Dimensions variable, 2017-2023
Ordinary objects that seem to be in a natural state—wood, stone, brick, etc.—challenge the viewer's cognitive common sense by deforming and stretching, and at the same time show the elasticity and softness of paper, so as to pay attention to the "physical properties" of paper as a substance. Using the elasticity of paper, the increased volume of the deformed object forms a relationship of generation and balance with the space, and the mutated body shape and the undeformed object also have a spatio-temporal contrast. By using paper to imitate natural objects, and then using paper to change the shape of natural objects, the artist uses paper to improve the unpredictability of natural things outside of human daily thinking. - Wu Hongliang.
Li Hongbo, Bust of Marseille, paper, 60 36 35cm, 2012
The prototype of this group of paper sculptures comes from the plaster statues that the artist has painted: "La Marseillaise", "David", "Roman Youth" ......They are all classic patterns of ancient sculpture and are used in the art education curriculum for basic sketching training, and these teaching aids accompany the growth of every art learner.
Li Hongbo tried to approach those times in the gentlest way, using the most familiar material, paper, to re-sculpt these teaching aids and regain their memories in his heart. The static plaster statue has no emotion and cannot be changed, while the statues he shapes through the bonding, cutting, and polishing of the paper, although their contours and colors have not changed under the static, and they seem to be "vain appearances" and are mistaken for "plaster statues", but there are qualitative changes inside, and the artificial participation makes the solidified shape transform into a movable sculpture that can be stretched, twisted, and changed, changing the original static space and volume, and also changing everyone's memory.
Fan Di'an, chairman of the Chinese Artists Association and former president of the ** Academy of Fine Arts, believes that "it is precisely because Li Hongbo's consciousness is sensitive to contemporaneity that he injects a realistic concern into the motif of his works when he uses simple materials and techniques." Sections of trees from the forest, classical statues, and weapons ...... the post-Cold War eraHe turns the perceived reality into a cultural narrative, which corresponds to many incredible phenomena in the contemporary world and also tells the psychological confusion of contemporary people. ”
It is reported that the exhibition will last until April 30, 2024, during which five art dialogue activities will be held.