TANG CONTEMPORARY ART – Hong Kong presents:

The Shape of Scent

YUAN GONG

August 4 - 27, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (HONG KONG – July 13, 2016):

Tang Contemporary Art is proud to present Yuan Gong’s

solo exhibition “The Shape of Scent” from August 4th to

August 27th, 2016 at their Hong Kong gallery. The

exhibition features the artist’s video work Close to

Heaven and new paintings from The Shape of Scent series.

Yuan Gong’s artistic approach involves a wide range of

media including performance, installation, and painting;

where ‘intervention’ is the common thread in his works,

‘scent’ is how he intervenes to engage with communities,

issues, and sites. Since Yuan Gong’s 2011 exhibition of

work The Scent of Air at the Venice Biennale, he has been

using installations of fog to ‘invade’ landmarks around

the world.

Close to Heaven, Video work, 1.21 minutes, 2012

Close to Heaven is a video documenting Yuan Gong’s

performance work in 2012, a continuation of his work The Scent of Air where he created a fog installation to ‘occupy’ the

Copenhagen Art Festival. The video captures the interaction between audience and fog, demonstrating spatial

relationships involved in performance art.

Yuan Gong’s new paintings from The Shape of Scent series evolved from his performance work in Venice – Air Strikes

Around the World, 2015. New paintings are rendered using detailed images enlarged from the site of the performance

where he had strung together small circles as particles of fog. The process deconstructs, rearranges, and reconstructs

the shape of fog, suggesting a hidden order in its intangible nature.

The video works and paintings in this exhibition expand the notions of ‘event and performance’ to ‘consumption and

production’; his artistic procedure links incidence, performance, consumption and capitalism together to transform his

artwork into a commodity.

As art critic Lu Mingjun quoted in his article [When paintings become performances, or when incidents become

commodities] - “On one hand, Yuan Gong attempts to create friction between the individual, history, and reality, by

challenging the current system with provocative events that articulate statements of political disobedience; on the other

hand, he makes use of the system with intention to ‘cater’ to a bourgeoisie taste in art, attempting to define a new pop

art. This kind of division and juxtaposition is thus a reflection of Yuan Gong’s experience in the current system of

contemporary art – as he has said, while he has no objection to the market, he also has no attitude towards it.”

Opening Reception:

6 – 8pm. Thursday, August 4th, 2016

Artist will be present

Tang Contemporary Art

19th Floor, 18 On Lan Street, Central, Hong Kong

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am – 7pm

+852 2682 8289 | info@tangcontemporary.com.hk | www.tangcontemporary.com

About Yuan Gong

Yuan Gong is a contemporary Chinese artist born in Shanghai in 1961. He obtained his PhD degree in the Theory of Art at

the Chinese National Academy of Art in 2012, but has involved himself in various aspects of contemporary Chinese art

since the 1990s. Both a creator and researcher, designer and planner, Yuan Gong is a multifaceted artist playing at the

interface of conceptual, performance, and fine art. Working with a large variety of media, his works address a number of

philosophical questions – reflecting his concerns for Chinese society and impugning the art system, including the

exhibition format and the status of the artwork.

In recent years he has participated in major exhibitions including China8 at the Muelheim Art Museum, Belle Haleine –

The Scent of Art at Museum Tinguely, Secret Signs at the Deichtorhallen Museum, Voice of the Unseen - a collateral

event at the 55th Venice Biennale, the China Pavilion exhibition at the 54th Venice Biennale, the Copenhagen Art

Festival, the 6th Prague Contemporary Art Festival, and the inaugural Beijing 798 Biennale. His artworks have been

collected by the Guangdong Museum of Art, the Hubei Museum of Art, the Arthur Sackler Museum of Peking University,

the White Rabbit Collection, and the Sigg Collection of Switzerland.

The Shape of Scent No. 5, Oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm, 2016

The Shape of Scent No. 8, Oil on canvas, 110 x 150 cm, 2016

ABOUT TANG CONTEMPORARY ART

Tang Contemporary Art was established in 1997 in Bangkok, later establishing galleries in Beijing and most recently Hong

Kong. The gallery is fully committed to producing critical projects and exhibitions to promote Contemporary Chinese art

regionally and worldwide, and encourage a dynamic exchange between Chinese artists and those abroad.

Acting as one of the most progressive and critically driven exhibition spaces in China, the gallery strives to initiate

dialogue between artists, curators, collectors and institutions working both locally and internationally. A roster of

groundbreaking exhibitions has earned them international recognition, establishing their status as a pioneer of the

contemporary art scene in Asia.

Tang Contemporary Art represents leading figures in Chinese art including Ai Weiwei, Huang Yong Ping, Shen Yuan,

Wang Du, Liu Xiaodong, Yang Jiechang, Xia Xiaowan, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Yan Lei, Wang Yin, Zheng Guogu, Michael Lin,

Lin Yilin, He An, Zhao Zhao, Wang Yuyang, Weng Fen, Yang Yong, Xu Hualing, Xu Qu, XU Xiaoguo, Ji Zhou, Cai Lei, Guo

Wei, Ling Jian and Chen Wenbo, additionally collaborating with international artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Navin

Rawanchaikul, Sakarin Krue-on and Preeyachanok Ketsuwan.

HONG KONG Tang Contemporary Art’s recent expansion to a 2,000 sq. ft. gallery space in Central is part of a long term

plan to develop their international programming. The space was inaugurated in October 2015 with the first solo

exhibition of Ai Weiwei “Wooden Ball” in Hong Kong, followed by an ambitious line-up of a monthly exhibition program.

For all press inquiries, please contact:

Shasha Tittmann

+852 2682 8289 | shasha@tangcontemporary.com.hk

Angelica Lam

+852 2682 8289 | angelica@tangcontemporary.com.hk