The Boundaries of a Dream
to many twentieth century artists who created superficial spectacles, Morandi’s internal explorations were what made his work so amazing; he bathed ordinary objects in a calm, sacred radiance. Gao’s love of Morandi allows him to exercise restraint in choosing and modeling his painted forms. Although Gao also pursues powerful surface effects, he does not randomly vent his emotions, because he endeavors to place this power within an orderly structure. Of course, some of the roots of this control, balance, and restraint can be found in traditional Chinese culture. Chinese philosophy embraces the doctrine of the mean, and Chinese painting esteems the ability to balance similitude and GLVVLPLOLWXGH$OORIWKLVVHHPVWRKDYHLQÀXHQFHG*DR¶VZRUN In addition to the desire for balance between the ancient and the modern, the interior and the exterior, Gao also attempts to balance East and West. He learned oil painting, but he still has a deep interest in traditional Chinese culture. Very often, his human and animal forms are inspired by the plastic arts of ancient China. Broad interactions with different countries have allowed Gao to experience a range of cultures in a globalized era. Flying in the face of the homogeneity of international contemporary art, Gao has not abandoned his cultural identity. How can you pursue mutual understanding while still preserving your own unique traits? Put more simply, how can you achieve both similarity and difference? Seemingly in answer to these questions, Gao Xiang once again shows off his astounding powers of balance. He cleverly places unique cultural elements into a universal artistic language, hiding uniqueness within universality. Through deep and persistent interaction, he arrives at a single, common
Gao Xiang likes to paint dreams. Ten years ago, he created the Who is the Doll series, which featured disproportional male and IHPDOH¿JXUHVRQDGUHDPOLNHVWDJH+LV The Dreams series was created five years ago, and the protagonists of these dreams are disproportional humans and horses. Recently, Gao has continued to focus on humans and horses, but has reduced the distortion. In this new work, the figures have obvious links to excavated WHUUDFRWWD¿JXUHVUHSUHVHQWLQJDQRWKHUNLQGRIGUHDP+RZHYHU in contrast to popular children’s cartoons, Gao Xiang’s work never completely left reality. Maintaining some relationship with reality allowed Gao to avoid repeating the old tropes of Surrealism. Even If his work cannot be classified as Surrealism, it is even further from Realism. Although he received rigorous training in Realism, Gao places more emphasis on his emotions and thoughts. However, Gao sees external reality as completely opposed to his interior world. Searching for the boundaries between the interior and the exterior is like traveling along the boundaries of a dream, neither real nor unreal, like a daydream. Artists very HDVLO\FKRRVHEHWZHHQWKH¿JXUDWLYHDQGWKHDEVWUDFWWKHUHDOLVW and the expressive, the internal and the external. Gao avoids these RYHUVLPSOL¿FDWLRQVDQGDWWHPSWVWR¿QGDEDODQFHEHWZHHQWKHVH WZRFRQÀLFWLQJVLGHV,QWKLVVHQVH*DRLVDPDVWHURIEDODQFH,Q a contemporary art world that prefers extremes, his eclecticism makes him stand out. *DR;LDQJGRHVQRWPRYHWRZDUGVVXSHU¿FLDOH[WUHPHV LQVWHDG he attempts to dive deeper into his work. This tendency is unrelated to his long-term study of Giorgio Morandi. In contrast
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