This August, Space and Gallery Association Shanghai is pleased to present Everyone is Lucifer –– a group exhibition that brings together five Chinese contemporary artists Liu Chao, Lu Pingyuan, Wang Shuo, Zhao Yang and Zheng Haozhong. The exhibition is on view from 22th August until 22th September 2024.
"Lucifer" originally comes from Roman mythology, referring to the god of the morning star "Lucife". Through Latin translation, it became "Lucifer". "Lucifer" is composed of "lux"and "ferre", meaning "light-bringer", the most beautiful of the angels. However, due to later misconceptions, "Lucifer" is often associated with Satan, the devil cast out of Heaven. Over time, it even became one of the names for Satan. For example, in Dante's Divine Comedy, Lucifer is depicted as Satan, who was cast out of the heavens for rebelling against God and falling into Hell. Whether Lucifer is an angel or a devil, or if he is an angel who became a devil or a devil who became an angel, remains unknown. It is even possible that Lucifer is inherently mutable—an angel at one moment and a devil at another. In various social experiments, it has been found that the transformation between angel and devil seems to be the norm today. People are all on the path of Lucifer, and everyone is Lucifer.
In Liu Chao's work, whether male or female, whether front or back, all are reduced to simple black or white silhouettes. In his recent pieces, he repeatedly depicts the same indistinguishable figure in the same pose, exploring the infinite potential of an everyday bodily movement. The act of repeatedly portraying or practicing the same action or endlessly repeating the same language is itself a practice of dehumanization. However, Liu Chao does not simply repeat; he values the differences within repetition, or rather, the possibilities for variation as a bodily medium, especially the dissonant and incongruent aspects, such as pulling out more dimensions of space/time amid the constraints or pressures of the flat plane.
If Liu Chao’s depiction attempts to extract or yank out figures from the background of the painting, then Wang Shuo’s depiction is more akin to “exiling” or “destroying” figures from the background. Wang Shuo often uses sweeping or semi-rotational expressive brushstrokes, imbuing the painting with an ascending energy. These unique techniques both blur the relationship between figures and background and draw the outside viewer into the painting through her brushwork and composition. Wang Shuo enjoys the feeling of “playing wild” on the canvas—where colors and humanity both bloom, yet, like the figures in her paintings, they often fall into a void.
Correspondingly, In his recent work, Zheng Haozhong continues to explore the relationship between characters and their backgrounds. True to form, Zheng maintains a relaxed, almost "dilapidated" demeanor, making it hard even for him to distinguish whether his "casual" or "carefree" creative approach is a regular behavior or an artistic performance. Nonetheless, he never forgets to slyly observe both the bright and dark sides of human nature.
Zhao Yang's depictions are more of his childhood fairy tale imagination. Originally scenes of innocence and romance, under his brush they become absurd, ridiculous, violent, bloody, decayed, and savage. The grayish-pink tone, like the fairy tale imagination of his childhood, seems equally out of place, instead conveying a hint of melancholy, wistfulness, and rebellion. Perhaps the childhood fairy tale is merely a pretext—the exotic and mysterious forests, mountain streams, and wilderness are both a utopia of imagination and a parable of harsh reality. Here, there is “a dual nature of myth and reality, as well as a survival truth that is starkly different from typical imagination.”
Fairy tales and games were once among the themes of Lu Pingyuan's creations. He integrates multiple media such as AI, paper cutting, and painting. On one hand, he completely hands over the generation of images to AI, thus relinquishing control. On the other hand, through meticulous cutting and depiction, he returns to himself, imbuing the work with his own perception, emotions, and warmth. Consequently, these images exude both innocent childlike wonder and a sense of eerie fear. However, Lu Pingyuan's concern extends beyond just the results; it lies in the unprecedented will and potential unleashed when technology encounters human will, including the interplay between the two. The real question or dilemma here is whether technology has turned humans into demons, or humans have turned technology into demons, or if both were originally demons—Lucifer.
