In celebration of Leo Gallery's 16th anniversary, the gallery presents the group exhibition "Polyphonic Resonance" at the unique premise of Chun Art Museum. This exhibition will feature talented Chinese and international artists, including Barbara Edelstein, Cai Yaling, Cécile Lempert, Hu Shunxiang, Huang Shuofei, Lin Yan, Liu Jiuzhang, Olga Bläsi, Tamara Kovestadze, and Zhang Xuerui. Drawing inspiration from the concept of polyphony in music, the exhibition aims to transcend the boundaries of artistic mediums of painting, installation, video, sculpture, and more to explore how individual practices form a “polyphony” that extends to art literature and other cultural domains, generating continuous and distinctive resonance through the interplay of diverse works of art.
Initially rooted in music, polyphony is a musical form comprised of two or more separate melodies that harmonize seamlessly - a tradition with ancient roots across the globe, yet most commonly associated with the Baroque period. This era witnessed a golden age of polyphonic music, exemplified by the free and precise counterpoint in compositions such as Johann Sebastian Bach's Fugue (BWV 1080) and the Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 846-893). Unlike the strictures of classical music, artistic practices - especially in contemporary art - eschews rigid conventions. The artists featured in "Polyphonic Resonance" hail from diverse cultural backgrounds, each coming from a unique context and following their own trajectory while showing shared interests and aesthetics. The juxtaposition of their works not only underscores their esteemed aspirations and efforts in contemporary art practices but also resonates with the polyphonic nature of music, where diverse melodies converge to define the ethos of an era.
The emphasis of this exhibition is not on “monotone" but rather to coincide with Mikhail Bakhtin's 19th-century literary theory of "polyphony." Amid intentionally pairing and placing works in specific spaces, each artist's practice maintains independent and robust stylistic characteristics, engaging in self-referential dialogues and introspective reflections while initiating dialogs in newly created contexts. As German mathematician David Hilbert once remarked, "Arithmetic symbols are written figures, while geometric figures are drawn formulas." Similarly, within the open atrium and multifaceted spaces of the museum’s gallery spaces, the artworks converge and disperse, akin to intricate geometric patterns expanding infinitely, giving voices to each artist's position in the present moment. "Polyphonic Resonance" invites viewers to partake in the rich dialogues encapsulated within these works, prompting intuitive reflections that resonate within the mind and senses, leaving lasting impressions akin to resonance in a vast soundscape.
