BEYOND THE DARKNESS - HENRY XIANG

Henry Xiang is in his second year of his Fine Arts Master’s degree in painting at the National Art School - Join us in celebrating Henry's exhibition on Opening Night 20 June 6-8pm

Exhibition form 20 June - 2 July

His practice takes the philosophical connotations of material elements such as water and mind in different historical and cultural contexts of East and West. From detailed human organs to mysterious monsters, botanical-inspired organic forms and spectacular jellyfish inspired by myths and fantasies, stepping out of the realm of ancient Chinese mythology and traditional Taoist culture, it maintains an examination of the ideals and beauty of the organism.

Combining the ingenious use of materials with different cultural characteristics such as Chinese ink and Western oil paint, his work creates a peaceful, positive and imaginative space to counteract negative factors including the accelerating pace of species extinction, political and cultural instability in an overdetermined contemporary world. At the same time, it constructs a vivid Utopian world for the proposition of the relationship between human race as a microscopic concept and the universe as a macroscopic concept—that is, the relationship between human and non-human.