“Let's withdraw; And meet the time as it seeks us.”
- William Shakespeare
Leo Gallery proudly presents Hu Shunxiang's solo exhibition The World of Yesterday, from June 22 to August 27, 2023. The exhibition is of a selection of 33 artworks from 7 series that are representative of the artist's oeuvre from 2020 to the present. This is an exhibition about the dilemma of human existence itself - loss, hope, fear, love, death, blossoming, freedom, life, and living.
Throughout her career, Hu's works have had a classical quality in their external form, perhaps due to her background in studying oil painting. However, the core of her work is rich in a literary and philosophical spirit, exploring many common issues that humanity is faced with in the current world. In the artist's subconscious, she has a natural affinity for mystical things. Hu's creative work is mainly centered around texts, stories, dramas, and films, and her forms of expression include painting, painting installations, stage plays, and more. The artist excels in using different media to engage in her creative work. For The World of Yesterday, she acts not only as an artist but also as a director and screenwriter.
Although some of the works exhibited this time involve female topics, this is not a feminist exhibition because it ultimately explores human existence itself. The works presented on the first floor of the gallery are relatively more focused on female aspects, such as The Departure of Nora while To Walk Invisible and The Hours pay homage to the Bronte Sisters and Virginia Woolf, respectively - the artist empathizes with their fates, for the problems women have faced across such a long period of history still exist today. The majority of the works on the second floor are works from 2022 to 2023, presenting three important series: Nine Gates, Decameron, and The Knight of the Rose. The works unfold in a series of hidden stories about men and women, human existence itself, and the artist's reflections on a particular period in history that everyone in this world has shared.
Text by Ning Wen