Tong Kunniao & Second Natural Person Series
Tong Kunniao’s most recent paintings can be readily described as installations since the images in his paintings are sourced from his previous installations, such as the figure of a cyborg human. Flowers and birds in Tong’s paintings can be attributed to the influence of traditional Chinese painting such as that of the Song dynasty. Stylistically, the brush-and-ink style is a combination of the careful realist gongbi technique and the interpretive, expressive xieyi style, one that adds a sensibility of illustration of today to it in terms of the placement and arrangement of objects. The frames and their ornate detailing outside the paintings together with the easels have enhanced the attributes of an installation in an archetypical sense. To put it another way, Tong begins by making a painting of an installation to create a new series of visual installations out of the images that have been designed for the installation and other images in the existing painting and eventually places the ready-made work on an easel. Interestingly, the installation characteristics of a painting are fully exposed if the concept of “easel painting” is brought to light intuitively. In essence, the original themes, artistic language, style, and artistic genres are profoundly disturbed yet simultaneously unified in the coherent, natural style of Tong Kunniao.
Presence: WSK Art Support Program and the 6th China Contemporary Young Artists Nomination Exhibition
Duration: March 23 - April 7, 2024
Venue: Shandong Art Museum, Jinan
