Phantom Gray—Ko-Wei Huang solo exhibition

“Birds” Don’t Flutter in the Shapes of Birds
No exquisite realistic depictions, Huang uses bold strokes and flowing pigments to build up the whole image in this series. Wandering in different depth of field under reflection of light and swaying dense trees, Huang seems to invite audience to see through layers of shadows and walk closer to find the puzzles hidden behind. In the corner where clues are buried, lumps of rough strokes become body of birds from a distance which contrast to reality. As if we can hear the unrest voices in artist’s head in the quiet scene, Hunag gives a even more solitary atmosphere. Moreover, he attends to further imply: living bird is not a clear imagination, metaphor of bird specimen as painting is the main idea. Such dead sample reincarnated, propped an ambiguous skeleton for painting. Huang provides such a clue and invites audience to discuss with him the painterlyness, color and symbols in this digital era.

Gray Image — A Possible Breakthrough
Jean Baudrillard points out that our visual experience is kidnaps by an ambiguous and vague form after the invention of photography in the nineteenth century. The ancient tradition of "image" which refers to “painting” is rarely discussed or being offered a contemporary sense, liberation and revolutionary answer. Huang does not want to search from only black or white, instead he hit a road sparsely taken where he face with rational, while, sensibility constantly shift our perception and expectation. In other words, he leads us to question, to challenge the image in front of us. Full of symbols, pixel-like spots, different contour and texture of the material, we finally face the contradiction between boundaries of "painting" and "image." In the dim edge of gray, Huang manages to develop revolutionary possibilities.