Opening Reception: Aug. 8th, 2020, 5 pm- 9 pm
Location: 174 Roebling St., 1L, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hours: Tue. - Sat. 11 am- 5 pm, Sunday 12 am - 5 pm, by appointment only.
Curator: Shihui Zhou
LATITUDE Gallery is pleased to present Rushing Down The Cliff, Yuan Fang's first solo exhibition at LATITUDE. Fang's paintings from three different series, in conjunction with her drawings, will be exhibited in Rushing Down The Cliff.
After finishing her undergraduate degree in Visual and Critical Studies, Fang's practice has evolved into a new direction. Her past individual works from a certain time are gradually turned into separate chapters, which grants her the result of robust condense sentiments in each series. Reflecting the artist's mental state, paintings in the exhibition versatilely elucidate the upper human body. In Fang's painting, the intrinsic subjects are involuntarily compounded with the discursive surroundings. In hope of resonating with the audience with how she perceives the world in a fervent but unspeakable way, Fang is anatomizing her detachment from the outside world and the lack of belongings and unfamiliarities through her paintings. Questioning and departing herself from the omnipresence, Fang started drawing in a random sketchbook four years ago as a way to cure her depression, and that inclination betokens her future commitment to paintings. Although barely receiving any technical training, Fang believes in painting spontaneously: "When I paint, I want to dig deeper into the reality and self-existence as if I am driving a car, rushing down the cliff." The exhibition presents the boldness and indeterminate nature of Fang’s disposition. In the same way her paintings soft-pedaled her anxiety and concrete doubt, Fang wishes the contagious predilections will diffuse and fulminate inveterate psychological progressiveness.
Yuan Fang (b. Shenzhen, China) is a visual artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. She graduated from the Visual and Critical Studies Program at School of Visual Arts (BFA) with Rhodes Family Award for Outstanding Achievement and many other awards. Her works have been exhibited in the United States and China, including Yuan Fang: Rushing Down The Cliff, Latitude Gallery, Brooklyn (2020); Yuan Fang, Liminalities, Time Arts, New York (2019); Cross-Cultural Practice: Recent Works by Chinese Artists in New York, 285 Jay Street, Brooklyn (2019) and Artificial Boundary, Fou Gallery, Brooklyn (2018).
Born and raised in Shenzhen, a fast-paced city in Southern China with almost no historical heritage, Fang’s formative years were reflective of the transculturation of the region, and then she moved to New York, a diverse international city where she spends most of her adult life; this split background generates her lack of belonging. She captures a sense of self-distancing raised from cultural displacement and hyphenated identity.
Shihui Zhou（b.Tangshan, China ) Curator Shihui Zhou was born and raised in China, where she attended Tsinghua University in Beijing for her bachelor’s degree. Moving to the United States for graduate study, Zhou worked closely under American visual artist Nick Cave at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Zhou moved to New York for the artist residency in the Textile Arts Center shortly after her graduation in 2018. So far she has curated many exhibitions in New York. At the beginning of this year, Zhou founded the LATITUDE Gallery New York committed to ensuring opportunities for young artists and curators. Also as an active working artist herself, Shihui’s works have been not only shown both in the US and overseas, as well featured in the New York Times and other well-known art publications. Zhou is now working and living in Brooklyn, NY, USA.
LATITUDE Gallery New York
