In early spring, a time of transition between seasons, with sudden warmth amidst lingering cold, the rotation of the heavens and earth is filled with uncertainty — this seemingly contradictory state is precisely the opportunity for life's renewal, attracting artists from generations past to contemplate and portray its emergence.
GALLERY WHERE launched Tang Bohua's solo exhibition "Early Spring" on March 5, 2023. Tang Bohua focuses on the historical passage of time and moments of eruption. He uses Dunhuang clayboards carrying memories of time and space as a crucial material in his works, creating a dialogue between the present and the past through depictions of all lives and distant legends. In addition to screening Tang's classic animated work "The Sunglow of Mogao", the exhibition also presents his newly created painting installation "Early Spring", and over ten clayboard paintings evoking the essence of spring.
Years ago, Tang Bohua led a team to the Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang to work on a short film project. Believing that the earth and sand of Dunhuang naturally carry memories of historical time and space, they discovered ancient methods of making clayboards, dredging clay from dried-up rivers, mixing it with sand in the proportion of three sands, six soils, and one ash, and ultimately completing the animated short film "The Sunglow of Mogao" based on 2000 clayboards. Since then, the Dunhuang clayboard, imbued with transcendent temporal energy, have become an essential medium for Tang Bohua's art practice.
"The passage of time and moments of eruption" has always been a subject of Tang Bohua's works. Liuyang County in Hunan is renowned for its fireworks. In his childhood, Tang Bohua, born in Liuyang, was often moved by the final moment of explosion brought about by a series of intricate fireworks-making processes. This process mirrors the creation of animation and aligns with the ancient literati's view of time and space when creating and admiring landscapes. During his student days, Tang Bohua realized during sketching exercises that landscape paintings are visual products of specific time and space conditions, while literati landscapes embody the creator's panoramic view of the whole universe and the experience of worldly warmth and cold, resonating with a sense of infinite extension in time and space.
With this deep respect for historical time, Tang Bohua deconstructs and reconstructs Guo Xi's "Early Spring" from the Northern Song Dynasty in the form of clayboard paintings. In the intersection of winter and spring, between obscurity and clarity, he invites audiences to experience the infinite essence of spring within the depths of time.
Tang Bohua (b. 1986) currently works and lives in Dunhuang, Gansu. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of China Academy of Fine Arts. His main exhibitions include: Early Spring, GALLERY WHERE, Beijing, CN (2023); Fission, Guizhou Provincial Museum, Guizhou, CN (2022); Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey (2019); Time Topology: Meet Sunglow in the West, Yuan Art Museum, Chongqing, CN (2017); Tang Bohua, SinArts Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2016); Seeing Sunglow, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, CN (2016); Tidal Wave, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2015); B3 Biennale of the Moving Image, Frankfurt, Germany (2015); B3 +Beijing: Moving in Time, CAFA Museum, Beijing, CN (2015); On the Road, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, CN (2014); You Cannot Speak of Ice to the Summertime Bugs, MOUart, Beijing, CN (2014). His animation work "The Country of Summer Insects" was shortlisted in the 60th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, the 24th Zagreb International Animation Film Festival, the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival, the 7th Poland International Animation Film Festival, the 25th Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival and the 45th Tampere Film Festival...