Exhibition

4th May 2022 – 31st July 2022 (please book appointment prior to visit)

Venue

SALON TEN, 3rd flr, WF Central, Beijing, China

Artist

Luo Min

Curator

Zhou Ying

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Spring arrives quietly in my slumber,

The air is filled with the chirping of birds.

The spring of 2022 feels incredibly long. In March, while travelling to Luo Min’s studio near the outskirts of Chengdu, I passed by a field of blooming rapeseeds. There, for a moment, the sight warmed away my lingering chills from the Northern spring. Back in the artist’s studio, the space is illuminated with soft hues of yellows and pinks and the richness of gold and burgundy. In her painting series Hidden Time and Clues, the flourishing bouquets’ impasto surface––conceived through an accumulative rhythm of choice and accidents–– thickens to an almost impasto relief ‘structure’. Alongside, the dipped stems look mighty and resilient, despite the throbbing heaviness of their floral counterparts. This permeating sense of ‘sonorous’ vitality draws my memory to a painting which depicts a line of female soldiers waiting for a shower from the artist’s early military series, and the impression of flocks taking wing into the distant fields.

During our conversation, I often ask Luo Min the reason behind her flower motif–– is it a material or a theme? To which, she simply replies, “I can’t remember; it just comes with the flow”. Likewise, in the preface to his novel The Ages Trilogy, writer Wang Xiaobo wrote: “A person asks a mountain climber why he climbs mountains when everyone knows it is dangerous and has no practical benefit. The mountain climber answers, ‘Because the mountain is there.’” Accompanied by the accretion of time and the index of her own sentiments, Luo Min’s observation and depiction of this familiar ‘subject matter’ are transformed into a lyrical ‘floriography’ that is uniquely hers. Here, the application of ‘textual’ interpretation common in contemporary art discourse feels lacklustre. Occasionally, birds play “peekaboo” in her painting composition, but for the most part, they rarely take the limelight–– preferring instead to blend into the scene or hide behind a rosebush…The motley roses, represented by a colourful spectrum of base tone patchwork, emulate a ‘self-consistent’ expression about the artist’s personal encounters with life.

How should one define ‘flow’? To attain what the heart desires, and to have things arrive at one's fingertips? Like the beautiful rose Zeus created to showcase his powers to the fellow Olympians in Greek mythology, Luo Min's paintings are adorned with the same irresistible 'charm' that refrains one from asking,

"How many flowers wither when the night cometh?”

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About the artist

Luo Min (b.1968, Sichuan, China)

Graduated from the China Southwest Normal University, and received MA from the People's Liberation Army Academy of Art. Luo Min is a first-class national artist, a committee member of the China Oil Painting Society, and a professional painter at the Beijing Fine Art Academy. She has held exhibitions across Asia and Europe. Currently lives and works in Beijing and Chengdu, China.

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Exhibition artworks