4C Exhibition 2024 Q3 Life Reimagined
The changes in society, culture, and history witness the physical turmoil and carry the flow of the spirit.
Words by Wei Jing
Photos by Yu'ang Li
Opening on July 6th, the group exhibition “Life Reimagined” at Los Angeles’ 4C Gallery invites viewers to explore the works of eight artists, delving into their keen observations of life experiences and reconstructions of reality. Life is the daily routine and experience familiar to us all, and observing life becomes an instinct. In their works, life is placed within the linear dimension of time, becoming an eternal process of continuous evolution, constantly undergoing reshaping and re-creation, far from routine and rigid schedules. They confront the macro concept of “life” by reflecting on aspects related to human experience, identity, time, memory, space, and nature, seeking new understanding, connections, and resonance in the reconstruction of reality and experience.
This group exhibition not only focuses on the artistic interpretation of daily life but also directly addresses the chaos of the human condition. Through the artists’ reflections and self-examination of the complex connections between self, others, and society, viewers gain insights from different perspectives into the current state of existence and our relationship with the surrounding world, thereby uncovering deeper self-awareness. As we present a scrutiny of reality and contemplation of life, can we inspire a deeper understanding of life?
Architecture of AI Language digital art
Yanci Chen, an architect based in the United States, investigates problem-solving design concepts and the integration of artificial intelligence in architecture. Her project, “Architecture of AI Language Digital Art,” employs Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and AttnGAN to create images from textual descriptions, which are then incorporated into spatial designs. In 2020, when AI image processing technology was nascent and produced often blurry images, Chen extracted and refined digital information from these visuals, transforming them into functional design elements and exploring AI’s potential in spatial design. Although the technology was not yet advanced enough to fully convert these designs into 3D models, Chen established a new connection between images and text, paving new avenues for architectural design. Her work highlights AI’s immense potential in architecture while exploring the deep interconnections between language, imagery, machines, and human creativity.
In the soundtrack for the experimental fashion video “HÓNG,” Oscar Pan ingeniously combines traditional Chinese instruments like the guqin and jinghu with modern music technology and special sound effects, creating a musical world rich in cultural and historical context. The video addresses a grand historical theme: the changes in Chinese history since 1949 and the transformations in women's identities within it. At the film's climax, Pan skillfully blends percussion and battle cries with Chinese opera singing, making the music more than just a backdrop. This integration infuses the film with powerful narrative strength, maintaining tension and suspense while awakening the audience's historical memories and emotional resonance.
HÓNG
LOOM
Enxi Liu's work, which spans performance, photography, and video, delves into the interplay between sensory time and the body. Each piece integrates personal physical experiences with an extended sense of time, reflecting the intricate connections between identity, memory, and perception in a subtle and enduring way. Beginning with “Walking with Water,” Liu investigates the boundless extension of time through slow, deliberate visual experiences. “Elevated” extends this exploration, concentrating on how meaning can be derived from the monotony and arduous labor of daily life. By merging Sisyphus-like struggles with societal pressures, Liu probes whether repetitive actions can uncover meaning within the absurdity of human existence. In “Loom,” Liu examines the complexity of time through overlapping temporal layers. The multiple wall projections, combined with the symbolic use of candles, create a Tarkovsky-inspired visual effect. The candles, representing faith, paired with Plato’s allegory of the cave, prompt reflections on the nature of reality and perception.
Yuang Li’s “Salton Sea” features a large-format color negative scan on silk, creating a canvas with dreamlike water textures that seem to transport viewers into a surreal realm. Yet, this captivating beauty is not a product of pristine nature but rather a reflection of the long-standing environmental issues affecting Southern California’s Salton Sea region. The work contrasts nature’s unique beauty with the detrimental effects of human activity, encouraging viewers to contemplate the significant ecological problems in the area. Through his delicate artistic approach, Li explores how beauty can emerge from adversity and how art can uncover the complexities of reality.
Salton Sea
What is My Vehicle
Rosaline Dou’s work “What is My Vehicle” explores the intricate dimensions of daily behavior and emotions by reinterpreting habitual actions to uncover the complex feelings behind them. Using materials such as transparent tape and translucent paper, Dou attaches ritualistic late-night driving conversations to car tires. The accumulation of leaves, stones, and rainwater on the tape creates a poetic yet imperfect record of these conversations. Uniquely, Dou recounts these records to her illiterate grandmother, who mimics the text to recreate fragments of the conversations, introducing an ostensibly more objective perspective. This work embodies the construction, dissolution, and pursuit of memory, contrasting “rational” and “irrational” forms of wisdom. By questioning the “what,” Dou emphasizes a direct presentation of specific experiences while embracing all possibilities, presenting a balanced and harmonious artistic vision. Through her poetic observation and innovative recording methods of daily behavior, Dou challenges our understanding of memory and reality, aiming to reinterpret familiar rituals as part of a potential metabolic process of life.
Sitong Yin bridges fiber art and fine art, exploring the complex relationships between materials, places, and cultures. Using techniques such as weaving, embroidery, and ceramics, she blends tradition with modernity to reinterpret and reshape natural imagery. In her “Gaze” series, Yin employs digital jacquard weaving and digital embroidery to transform elements like landscapes and rocks into delicate artistic forms, revealing the nuanced relationship between the materiality of nature and virtual reality. By mimicking and translating natural forms, she creates a space of poetic ambiguity that exists between reality and the virtual. This exploration responds to themes of nostalgia within environmental and cultural migration, offering philosophical reflections on space, time, and existence. Yin’s work highlights the intersections of technology and craftsmanship in contemporary art.
Gaze
Blue Mountain
Yinsen Shao’s oil paintings draw from a diverse range of collected images, including magazines, photos, and movie stills. Utilizing color, form, lines, and spatial divisions, Shao explores the distinctive visual relationships between figures and their surroundings through abstract elements. While his works possess a narrative quality, Shao emphasizes the fleeting states of figures in motion over emotional expression. In pieces like “Man on the Horseback” and “In the Woods,” he reconstructs European scenes by combining lines, colors, and abstract elements, juxtaposing simplified figures with richly textured backgrounds. This interplay between detailed figures and textured environments creates a compelling visual tension. Shao’s focus on visual logic and contrast evokes a sense of detachment and unfamiliarity, presenting a highly personal yet intriguingly fantastical visual world.
Keke Yang’s artwork delves into the fluidity of existence, challenging the boundaries of materiality and perception through photography, video, installation, and performance. Her work often incorporates elements of chance and unpredictability, such as inflating balloons until they burst against a needle or using balloons as heels for high-heeled shoes, symbolizing the fluidity of gender and identity. She also explores the softness and transformation of existence through soap bubbles formed by body friction. Yang’s art transcends mere material reconstruction, presenting bold challenges to conventional concepts. By recontextualizing familiar objects and subverting social expectations through performance, Yang redefines the relationships between objects and identity, creating new symbolic spaces.
Balloon and Pin
Our Art Panel
