Art Basel Hong Kong 2023

Mind Set Art Center is honored to present Rao Fu’s “Night Feast” at the Galleries sector of Art Basel Hong Kong 2023. The exhibition will run from 23 to 25 March at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. A preview session is set to launch at noon, 21 March. We extend a warm invitation to you to join us and explore the artist’s latest work.

“Night Feast” is a collection of Rao Fu’s latest paintings and sculptures. It is a display of Fu’s continuous effort in exploring cross-cultural concepts in his art practices. As a contemporary Chinese artist who’s born in Beijing, raised in Qingdao and lived in Germany for close to 20 years, his creative journey has been profoundly influenced by the Dresden School and German Romanticism, thoughts that are deep rooted in German philosophy and literature. The work of poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843), in particular, inspired Fu to dive deeply into the realm of human spirituality. Fu always keeps a clear head as he navigates between eastern and western culture. While experimenting with different artistic languages, he reaches back to the core of human spirituality, tackles the current challenges that face all of us, and ponders the deeper connection between reality and the inner-self.

In “Night Feast”, Fu’s large-scale triptych, the artist has deployed his trademark complex visual narrative and the creative use of perspectives. With his maturing techniques, Fu has projected humans’ desires and imagination onto the vast landscape, creating a colossal mirage that mirrors the real world. He has also imbued the individual figures with a sense of rituality. The giant figure holding a large divine object in his hands and the apostles are akin to Dionysus who march across the land to awaken the human spirit. The human figures that scatter across the canvas reflect the humans’ fleeing from the real world in the absence of divine spirit. Fu has elevated above the individual perspective and expressed his concern for all mankind by painting the pursuit of light and spirituality in the darkness.

From the small, paper-based drawings to the latest large-scale triptych, Rao Fu’s focus has shifted from the mundane everyday subjects to stupendous allegories. The artist grounds his own feelings in the boundless realm of human experience, and his work transcends time, location and cultures and is closely connected to the individual. Fu once said, “Art is like a mirror that reflects the questions I have in mind. But, I’m in no rush to seek out the answers because it’s in the process that I solve the challenges. All I need to do is to be myself.” Rao Fu carries with him the self-consciousness of an artist and the mission of breaking down the geographical and ethnic barriers in art. He reconsiders the traditions of easter and western paintings and expresses the spiritual themes that are common to all humans in an allegorical fashion in hopes to seek resonance in the world of art.