Breath and Crystal

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Axel Vervoordt Gallery is pleased to present a large-scale group exhibition, Breath and Crystal, curated by the Shanghai-based curator Dr. Shen Qilan. The exhibition will occupy two floors of the Hong Kong space and create a dialogue between works by five Chinese artists — Chen Yan, Liang Shaoji, Shen Chen, Shi Zhiying, and Zhang Jian-Jun. In line with the gallery’s vision to bridge artistic expressions from the East and the West, the exhibition will evolve and travel to the gallery’s headquarters in Belgium next year, with an extended list of artists from the gallery’s international roster.

The exhibition Breath and Crystal invites five contemporary Chinese artists to explore the essence of art and life. Each artist presents their understanding of the flow of life through sincere creation. For them, art is both breath and crystal. This exhibition is divided into five rooms, each featuring a distinct theme that corresponds to different rhythms of breath, allowing the artists’ works to engage in meaningful dialogue.The five themes are: “Breath,” “Seasons,” “A Day and Eternity,” “Tides,” and “Crystal.” Everything has its own breath, and within these artworks lies the essence of sincere spirit. The artists in front of the canvas immerse themselves repeatedly in the sea of brushstrokes, like the daily ebb and flow of tides, like silkworms tirelessly spinning their silk. Simultaneously, what condenses and dissipates is the consciousness within time, the breaths of you and me, and the life found within crystallization.