Aurora Art Center will collaborate with Soka Art to present Hong Ling's landscape oil painting exhibition Arise at the Tumultuous Tranquility from Nov 9, 2024, to Dec 8, 2024, at Shanghai Aurora Art Center. This is Hong Ling's second large-scale solo exhibition after an eight-year hiatus, showing Hong Ling's latest painting ideas and extensions. Wu Hongliang, the current president of Beijing Fine Art Academy, is invited to be the curator of this exhibition, and Peng Feng, the dean of the College of Arts of Peking University, is the academic host.

The exhibition title “Arise at the Tumultuous Tranquility” is derived from “Zhuangzi - Inner Chapters - The Great Master, Chapter 6”. The text reads, “The decaying of life no longer leads to death, the vigorous ones no longer continue to grow. As for things, there is nothing that cannot be excluded, there is nothing that cannot be pleased, there is nothing that cannot be destroyed, there is nothing that cannot be completed, this is called ‘Tumultuous Tranquility’. ‘Tumultuous Tranquility’ is to be peaceful after being disturbed.” “Tumultuous Tranquility” described by Zhuangzi means to maintain inner peace and quiet in the clamor of the outside world and to achieve a state of mind that transcends the material world. In Hong Ling's more than 40 years of art practice, the idea of natural philosophy has always been present. He has been living in Mount Huang and experiencing its ups and downs over the years, standing among the mountains and rivers with a casual vibe and enjoying everything, transforming the earth's form into a painting. It not only shows the painting technique of simplicity in Chinese landscape painting and the aesthetics of the symbiosis between reality and fiction but also makes the subject of aesthetics become the same as nature in the pursuit of desirelessness, arriving at the state of forgetfulness of both the material and the self.

Zhuangzi believes that all things in the world are the same, and there is no difference between death and life. From the moment of their birth, things are moving towards death day by day; conversely, extinction is the beginning of life. This concept of “life is the same as death” is also reflected in Hong Ling's creations. As time comes and goes, the artist captures the rhythms and poetry of nature and lets the landscape take its shape to express Taoism, witnessing the cycle of life between heaven and earth with the paintings. The overlapping layers of mountains in the paintings blur the boundaries between each other so that the concept of space becomes obscured; The streams that flow through the forest are shiny but can't stay in time, and the rules of nature always follow them; The winter snow does not freeze the mountains, because the warm sunlight implies that spring is coming. Hong Ling uses his brush and ink freely in the vast landscape, eliminating the delusion of being susceptible to the world's intrusion and returning to the original. Just as all things have no birth and no death, no past and no present.

「About Hong Ling」

Hong Ling, born in Beijing in 1955, graduated from the Graduate Program at the Oil Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1987 and is currently a member of China Artists Association. Now lives and works in Beijing and Mount Huang, Anhui.

Hong Ling has held many important domestic and overseas exhibitions, and his major solo exhibitions include: Arise at the Tumultuous Tranquility, Aurora Art Center, Shanghai (2014); Hong Ling: Inaudible Nature, Eternal Growth, National Center for the Performing Arts,  Beijing (2017); Recent Works by Hong Ling - Chinese Ink Painting, Soka Art, Taipei (2017); Hong Ling: A Retrospective, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, UK (2017); Hong Ling: A Retrospective, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London, London, UK / Chester Beatty  Library, Dublin, Ireland (2016); Hong Ling: Beauty of the Nature, National Art Museum of China / Palace Museum, Beijing (2015); Aspiration - Hong Ling Solo Exhibition, Poly  Gallery, Hong Kong (2014); A Spiritual Intuition of Natural Principles - Hong Ling Chinese Ink Painting, Soka Art, Taipei / Tainan (2013); Nature - Hong Ling Solo Exhibition, Kuan du  Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei (2013); Hong Ling - Contemporary Chinese Landscape, Asia House, London, UK (2012); Boundless Momentum - Hong Ling Solo Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing / Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou (2011); Any Scene You Want - Hong  Ling Solo Exhibition, Soka Art, Taipei / Tainan (2010); Spiritual Landscape, Soka Art, Taipei (2008); Spirit of Mountain, Soka Art, Beijing (2006); Hong Ling Solo Exhibition, Cap of Good Hope Gallery, Singapore (2004); Spirit of Mountain, National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei (2003); Spirit of Landscape, Soka Art, Beijing (2001); Hong Ling Solo Exhibition, Cap of Good Hope Gallery, Singapore (1998); Hong Ling Solo Exhibition, International Art City, Paris, France (1996); Spirit of Landscape, Schoen i Gallery, Hong  Kong (1995).

His selected group exhibitions include: ART BASEL HK, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, Hong Kong (2014/2023/2022/2021/2019/2018/2017); Reproduction of Light - Asian Art Exhibition, Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (2023); The International Museum Day, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing (2020); JING ART 2019, Beijing (2019), G20 Exposition, Hangzhou (2016); Resonance Chinoise, Exposition Itinerante Internationale de la Peinture a L'huile Chinoise, Palaise Brongniart, Paris (2016); Resonance, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia (2014); Anwesen - The Second Chinese Oil Painting Biennale, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2014); China French Art Exchange Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2014); From Beijing - Works by the Faculty of China Central Academy of Fine Arts, New York Academy of Art, New York (2013); The Revival of Tradition-Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Istanbul Convention Center, Istanbul, Turkey (2013); Creative City - 2012 London Olympics Art Exhibition, Barbican Centre, London, UK (2012); Group Exhibition of Chinese Oil Painters, Busan Museum of Art, Busan (2012); FUTURE PASS - Collateral Event of the 54th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (2011); Transforming Pictures: A Contemporary (Re)presenting of Traditional Thoughts, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2009); From Beijing to Melbourne, The Melbourne Art Association Art Center Melbourne, Australia (2003); 47th Venice Biennial - Future, Present, Past”, Venice, Italy (1997); Post Modernist Chinese Art, Fine Arts Museum of Brussel, Brussels, Belgium (1995) etc.

Hong Ling's works have been collected by public organizations and private collections such as National Centre for the Performing Arts of China, National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Aurora Museum, Chengdu Zhi Art Museum, Taiwan Quanta Foundation, Taiwan Yuanta Foundation, SOAS Gallery of London, Chester Beatty Library of Dublin, etc.

「About Wu Hongliang」

Wu Hongliang is currently a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), president of Beijing Fine Art Academy, vice director and secretary of the Curatorial Committee of China Artists Association, vice president of Beijing Artists Association, and the curator of the China Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.

Wu Hongliang is an expert on Qi Baishi, 20th-century art history and an influential curator. In 2008, he participated in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games and public art projects. Under his auspices, Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy was selected as one of the first nine National Key Art Museums. The research results published and the exhibitions held by Beijing Fine Art Academy have won more than ten national awards from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other institutions for many years. He participated in the curating of exhibitions of Qi Baishi's art in Hungary, Japan, Liechtenstein, Greece, Italy, Germany, Latvia, Sweden, Macao and other countries and regions, and participated in the organization of academic projects such as “Curating in China” Forum and Qi Baishi Art International Forum. He participated in the curating of Guangzhou Triennial, Chengdu Biennale, Wuhan Biennale, Art Changsha, “Self” series of exhibitions, etc. In 2022, he was the Director of the Steering Committee for the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games Public Art Global Call for Projects. In 2023, he was invited to be the art curator of the China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka. Wu Hongliang has published a number of papers in professional journals such as "Literature and Art Research", "Fine Arts", "Art Observation", "Art Research", and published a monograph "A Leaf Knows Autumn".

「About Peng Feng」

Peng Feng is the dean of the School of Arts of Peking University and the vice president of International Association for Aesthetics. He was the curator of the China Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. He has published academic monographs such as “General Theory of Art”.

「About Aurora Art Center」

Aurora Museum A2 space has been officially opened to the public since 2020, and after four years of planning, it is now named formally Aurora Art Center. We will continue to explore and innovate to present a rich and diverse art world to our audience. Looking to the future, Aurora Art Center will continue to present modern and contemporary exhibitions and events, looking forward to providing a diversified art platform through continuous artistic exploration and innovation.

「About Soka Art」

Soka Art was founded in Taiwan in 1992, specializing in the works of outstanding contemporary Asian artists and is the earliest gallery in Taiwan to systematically operate Asian contemporary art. Soka Art Beijing was founded in 2001, located in the 798 Art District in Beijing. With three spaces in Beijing, Taipei, and Tainan, Soka Art has become an international gallery specializing in both classic and contemporary Chinese art and dedicated to the promotion of Asian contemporary art, with an influence that spans the whole of Asia.