Chen Wenbo “The Fat Years”

Klein Sun Gallery

poster for Chen Wenbo “The Fat Years”
[Image: Chen Wenbo "Stock" (2009) oil on canvas, 105 1/2 x 75 1/2 in.]

This event has ended.

Klein Sun Gallery presents a solo exhibition by painter Chen Wenbo.

Irregular, fragmented and distorted, the hyper-realistic subjects in Chen Wenbo’s “Broken” paintings convey satirical messages, which have been inspired by the “carnivalesque” – the English translation of the term coined by Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin to describe a social landscape mired in revelry. Chen paints everyday objects as shiny, glossy beacons of desire. Drawing from the theory of “fat years,” an illusion of accelerated economic growth manipulated by higher powers, Chen is both a critic and participator in this bubble of celebration. The audience too, cannot escape this dichotomy: the installed canvases are sliced and carved into slivers, revealing just enough of an illusion to entice; the exhibition walls are fully painted in vivid color.

Chen Wenbo was born in Sichuan, China, in 1969, and graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1991. Chen has been the subject of solo and group shows including “China 8: Chinese Contemporary Art,” NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany (2015); “Re-View,” Long Museum, Shanghai, China (2014); “Civilization,” OCAT Xi’an, Xi’an, China (2014); “Chen Wenbo: Broken Series,” Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2009); “Follow Me,” Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2005); and “Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection,” Kunstmuseum Bern (Museum of Fine Arts), Bern, Switzerland (2005).

Work by the artist is represented in museum and public collections worldwide, including the Minsheng Art Museum, China; M+ Museum, Hong Kong; White Rabbit Collection, Australia; Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation, Belgium; and DSL Collection, France.

Media

Schedule

from October 14, 2015 to November 14, 2015

Opening Reception on 2015-10-14 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Chen Wenbo

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