Mind Set Art Center is honored to take part in ART 021 with the Rao FU’s solo presentation “Combustion” (booth E12) in the upcoming winter. This will be the artist’s debut in Shanghai and also the gallery’s first-time participation at Art 021. The fair is scheduled to run from 13 to 14 November. The preview will begin on 11 November, 2pm.
Combustion includes the latest artworks of Rao FU that carries on with the artist’s often-seen painterly depiction of vast scenography and application of multiple-point perspectives. Thousands of layers of imaginations and figures are placed within a single scenario, addressing a status beyond languages that likely is madness before achieving nirvana or remaining images after annihilation. In Rao FU’s words: “I see them as a certain kind of shift and extremeness from accumulation. It is the expression of strength of life and the hidden desire in our mind. By means of combustion, I am able to break through myself at some point, reflect and reconstruct inner substances.” The scenes on the canvas seem to mirror the collective memory of the incidents we’ve all been through, revisiting the moments saturated with indescribable feelings. The immersive experience swinging between celebration and solitary creates huge tension that drags viewers into an intriguing story and extensive visual narrative built from Fu’s combustion for art. “Nameless Island II” depicts a boat sailing at full capacity- some passengers are fighting with the sea; some are floating along with the boat; some seemed resourceful and determined about the direction. The complex composition of strong sentiment creates contrast to the massive but desolate background where the ocean mysteriously merges with the continent. In “Red Boots”, a muscular skater holds a red human figure in a weird shape above his head. Their relationship is as ambiguous as their gestures. No one can be sure that they are working with or against each other. The world in Rao FU’s paintings as much as the complicated reality is the combination of dream, fantasy, and facts. It appears to be unspeakable but tugs at the heartstrings, like all things on earth.
