Explosive flourishes connect modernity and history in Gordon Cheung’s decadent still life paintings—Colossal



Art

#art history #capitalism #China #flowers #Gordon Cheung #painting #still life

In 1634, during the Dutch Golden Age, an unprecedented financial phenomenon began in the form of skyrocketing prices for rare and fashionable items tulip bulbs. In 1637, the speculative bubble collapsed, and while the collapse in the price of tulips may have bankrupted some investors, it did not have a major impact on the overall economy, unlike the US housing bubble which provoked a global crisis and led to a severe recession in 2008.

« Tulip mania » is a term still used today to describe when the prices of assets, such as mortgages or technology, rise exponentially relative to their intrinsic or general market values ​​and pose a threat to economic stability. By London artist Gordon Cheung, Dutch still life paintings provide a lens through which to explore the links between historical socio-economic systems, modern capitalism, and China’s new power on the global stage. “In part, they are about the rise and fall of civilizations, as well as the romantic language of still life painting: futile materialism and fragile mortality reflected in the transient beauty of flowers,” he says.

Like much of 16th- and 17th-century Dutch painting, the artist’s still lifes are full of symbolism and references to historical events. The linen surface is collaged with pages of ffinancial times, literally basing the work on data and news on global markets. The painting above, for example, references the Old Summer Palace of Beijing, also known as Yuanmingyuanwhich translates to « Gardens of Summer Brightness ».

c Detail of “Gardens of Perfect Luminosity”

The residence of Qianlong Emperor and its successors, the Summer Palace was home to celebrated gardens and an enormous collection of historical treasures and antiques dating back thousands of years. French and British troops captured the palace in October 1860 during the Second Opium War, which led to mass vandalism, looting and ultimately total destruction.

In « Gardens of Summer Brightness », the two sacred mountains of Sinai and Song flank the vase in the background, suggesting a collision which may have resulted in the pillar’s fracture. A park map dotted with an architectural ruin atop the pedestal, and the a thousand flowers or the “thousand flowers” ​​style, a popular motif in the Qianlong period, decorates the vase. The vase also contains botanicals by the emperor’s court painter Giuseppe Castiglione and sunflowers to symbolize the face of the sun as a deity and source of energy.

Combining inkjet, acrylic paint and sand printing methods to create a variety of textures and three-dimensional features, Cheung’s flowers appear to float delicately on ethereal surfaces. Assemble each flower by applying thick paint to plastic which can be peeled off when dry and stuck onto the canvas. He is interested in what he calls the “Ozymandian eventuality” of grandeur and power to physically and metaphorically crumble over time, using sand to represent the impermanence and ever-changing nature of the human condition.

Cheung’s solo exhibition THE Garden of perfect luminosity opens at Atkinson Museum in Southport, England on June 3rd. You can find out more about his websiteand follow Instagram for updates.

“Augury of Dongguan” (2022), Financial Times newspaper, archival inkjet, acrylic and sand on linen, 87 x 52 x 5cm

Detail of “Dongguan Wishes”

“Augury of Xi’an” (2022), Financial Times newspaper, archival inkjet, acrylic and sand on linen, 82 x 57 x 5cm

“Augury of Hong Kong” (2022), Financial Times newspaper, archival inkjet, acrylic and sand on linen, 82 x 57 x 5cm

Detail of “Hong Kong Wish”

“Traveller From an Antique Land” (2022), financial journal, archival inkjet, acrylic and sand on paper, 135 x 100 x 5 centimeters

“Timeless Sands” (2022), financial journal, archival inkjet, acrylic and sand on paper, 135 x 100 x 5cm

Detail of “Timeless Sand”

#art history #capitalism #China #flowers #Gordon Cheung #painting #still life

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