Highlights of Soka Art (1B01) at 2017 ABHK

Literati Naturalism: Hong Ling, Mao Xuhui &Mitsuhiro Ikeda

At 2017 Art Basel Hong Kong, Soka Art will be displaying 3 important artists: Hong Ling, Mao Xuhui, and Mitsuhiro Ikeda with the concept of “literati naturalism”. We want to illustrate three main ideals of literati naturalism: harmony, dialogue and return and conclude that art literati naturalism will bring us into harmony. 

Harmony between Man and Nature: Hong Ling 

Hong Ling (b. 1955, China) is represented by Soka since 1999. Hong Ling’s work embodies the spirit of literati: unity between man and the heavens, and the combining harmoniously of the three religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism). Hong Ling perfectly presents the harmony between man and nature has inspired great attention among academic circles. The Hong Ling European Exhibition Tour, planned by University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) art history professor Shane McCausland, was held from July 14 to September 24, 2016 at SOAS Brunei Gallery, followed by an academic conference at SOAS Auditorium on September 23and 24. It was attended by 28 scholars included, executive director of Hong Kong Asia Art Archive (AAA) Claire Hsu, Paris’ Musée Cernuschi Director Eric Lefebvre, Oxford University art history professor Craig Clunas, Boston Museum of Fine Arts Chinese Art Department curator Nancy Berliner, Harvard University art history professor Eugene Wang, among others. The exhibition was shown at the Chester Beatty Library, one of Ireland’s significant cultural institutions, from 21 October 2016 to 29 January 2017. Finally, it will be displayed at the Museum of East Asian Art at Bath from February 25 to July 2, 2017. 

Dialoguebetween Man and Nature: Mao Xuhui

Mao Xuhui (b. 1956, China) is one of the important figures in Hong Kong Asia Art Archive “Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980 - 1990” research plan. We will be exhibiting another important series of works entitled Red Tree and Destination-The Red Backrest Chair at the show. The artist has made Kunming, a simple city away from cityscapes, his base, allowing Mao to return to the essence of natural life. He paints from nature on an irregular basis and is influenced by the environment. Mao’s paintings allow there to be a direct dialogue between man and nature. In Destination- The Red Backrest Chair, the artist uses vibrant green and red dots, symbolizing the universe and nature, which encircle a red chair that represents human birth. Although life is fleeting, nature is endless. 

Returnto Nature: Mitsuhiro Ikeda

Mitsuhiro Ikeda (b.1978, Japan) works focus on the relation between the location, mentality and human philosophy. He majored in philosophy for his bachelor degree at the Hokkaido University and received his MA at the Tokyo Musashino Art University. Soka will show a new series which originated from his 8 months in-depth travel to the Eastern Europe at 2014. The journey began from Belgium, to Germany, to Ukraine, to Romania, to Croatia and end up at Turkey. As a backpacker, Mitsuhiro expected to experience local culture and nature scene, however, he found refugees came with his journey. He eventually realizes the world is changing. Therefore, Mitsuhiro raises the question, how we could recollect and comfort their (Mitsuhiro refers “their” to refugees or anyone have no home of soul) mind? Mitsuhiro develops the thought that he wants to have those scattered construction material woods (which he saw massively in his Europe journey) to be collected back to the linen bag and have them against the street wall peacefully. The scattered woods imply the countless scattered family during the inhuman conflicts. This is echoed back to where Mitsuhiro comes from, Japan is well-known for their collect and filing culture. Mitsuhiro used the concept of “collect and filing” to recollect the chaotic world and wishes to convert the chaos to the comfort.