【Artist Archive】- Tan Ping's Exhibition "Seaming and Regenerating: From Zurich to Art Basel Hong Kong"

The site of Art Basel Hong Kong will be my third exhibition of the “unfinished” works of the Helmhaus Museum Zurich. It also offers me an opportunity to give them a brand new visual presentation in the field of an art fair.

It is quite different from holding an exhibition in a museum of an art gallery to present works in an art fair. What kind of appearance will these works have on a completely different field? For me, at this moment, the answer is completely unknown. For this reason, I think for my works, they once again have a new opportunity of growing.

—— Tanping

Tan Ping presents on-site paintings in the space of Art Basel HK. He has recently shown great interest in new drawing experiments. He allows a large area of black paint spreading from the canvas surface to the wall, as if calmly pushing all the mixed feelings and squeezing it to the edges of canvas, and to the wall and the ground. These works embrace a logical relationship between space, time, and the field, exactly like the on-site painting.

Transferring the works from the "space" of an art museum to the "space" in a gallery to the "space" in an art fair raises an inherent question about the paintings and the changing space: would the transfer of works detach their connections? It inspires Tan Ping to reconsider the uncertainty between space, inspiration and state of creation. Encountering this kind of uncertainty, when Tan Ping picks up a painting brush, he is exposed to more moments ofuncertainty that is similar to the continual ‘overspreading’ in the painting process. His new ideas are generated in Zen way. Tan Ping reconnects the joint of a specific space and the context. He magnifies the uncertainty and re-defines the idea of ‘presence’, inserting a system cultivated by space and boundary into the paintings. He finally presents an entire new visual language of space, inspiration and state of creation.

Through the extension of painting boundary, immersive creation and multi-perspectives of frame, wall and space, Tan Ping allows the work image entering to a new space, passing from the canvas surface to the wall and form a striking visual language; and finally articulates a profound exhibition space with a mixture of abstract elements and performativity.

For a piece of work originally created for a particular environment or event, if it is snipped into an exhibition space that is not related to the original space that it belongs to, will the connection be terminated invisibly? Tan Ping's on-site paintings dives subjective ideas into specific objective environments, which involves the interpretation and synthesis of time, space, field and context. Therefore, based on the analysis of the above elements, Tan Ping "seamed" and "regenerated" the various elements that are aggregated in the other's space by alternative means, allowing the work to be a part of the new space, generating new meanings and relationships.---Huang Du

The On-site Painting of Tan Ping

Tan Ping presents on-site paintings in the space of Art Basel HK. He has recently shown great interest in new drawing experiments. He allows a large area of black paint spreading from the canvas surface to the wall, as if calmly pushing all the mixed feelings and squeezing it to the edges of canvas, and to the wall and the ground. These works embrace a logical relationship between space, time, and the field, exactly like the on-site painting.

-Curator, art critic - Huang Du

Artist Statement

The Helmhaus Museum of Art in Zurich was the first place where I engaged on-site painting in a specific space. The influence of the exhibition space and the feelings I have in urban time and space are all directly reflected in the paintings. The work is generated in this space and becomes an integral part of the space itself.

The work completed at the scene ceased to exist at the end of the exhibition in Zurich, and part of it has been shipped here. When it is presented in a new space, what we see now is only a part of the work. Just as the gargoyles cut off part of the murals from the site of the Dunhuang Grottoes, and when they are transferred into the space of the British Museum, a feeling of “division” emerges.

The transformation of a work from a “space” to another “space” seems nothing special, but a challenging problem for my artistic creation lies beneath: when the field painting is over, the work is removed from the original wall and is moved to another unrelated displaying space, is the relationship of the painting with the original space cut off? How can it be “seemed” with the new space and become a part of it, to re-generate new relationships and meanings?

The word "division" would be the most representative word for describing today’s status quo. Whether it is the division of ethnicities, nations, politics or human emotions, in short, it is a world that is being torn apart in divisions. As an artist, I hope not only to express a genuine feeling through an artistic way, but also to “seem” the state of division with myworks. For this I need to create a new visual feeling and use a “seaming” method to integrate it with the space here.

Artist Statement

The Helmhaus Museum of Art in Zurich was the first place where I engaged on-site painting in a specific space. The influence of the exhibition space and the feelings I have in urban time and space are all directly reflected in the paintings. The work is generated in this space and becomes an integral part of the space itself.

The work completed at the scene ceased to exist at the end of the exhibition in Zurich, and part of it has been shipped here. When it is presented in a new space, what we see now is only a part of the work. Just as the gargoyles cut off part of the murals from the site of the Dunhuang Grottoes, and when they are transferred into the space of the British Museum, a feeling of “division” emerges.

The transformation of a work from a “space” to another “space” seems nothing special, but a challenging problem for my artistic creation lies beneath: when the field painting is over, the work is removed from the original wall and is moved to another unrelated displaying space, is the relationship of the painting with the original space cut off? How can it be “seemed” with the new space and become a part of it, to re-generate new relationships and meanings?

The word "division" would be the most representative word for describing today’s status quo. Whether it is the division of ethnicities, nations, politics or human emotions, in short, it is a world that is being torn apart in divisions. As an artist, I hope not only to express a genuine feeling through an artistic way, but also to “seem” the state of division with myworks. For this I need to create a new visual feeling and use a “seaming” method to integrate it with the space here.