侯子超：猎果
2024年7月13日—8月25日
Gallery I & II｜SPURS Gallery，北京市朝阳区酒仙桥北路二号院798艺术区D06
马刺画廊荣幸地宣布将于2024年7月13日推出侯子超的全新个展“猎果”，在Gallery I & II双层空间呈现其近期创作的16件绘画以及绘画装置作品。继2022年的个展“厄尔塔”以人与自然的关系为绘画创作的切入点后，“猎果”汇聚了果实、生肉、动物与自然风景等图像作为更具体的载体，构建出了侯子超的绘画实践中批判性的一隅。
画廊一层空间中，与展览同名的大尺幅绘画《猎果》（2024）置于视觉中心，画面构建出的自然繁复永动，漂浮的色块有如密林中掉落的野果，又仿若大量的信息碎片扑面而来。环绕着这幅作品的是侯子超以果实为意象的图像实验。食物承载的意义随着人类文明的进程越来越纷繁冗杂。侯子超曾谈及自己曾经在深山中徒步多天，摘野果、取河水作为食物的补充，偶遇牧民后尝食生羊肉的经历；以及作为北方人的他初到佛山时，看到市政种植的芒果树遍布大街小巷，而因常年污染以及品种口感酸涩，熟透的芒果掉落在街头反倒为道路清理工作造成了很大的困难，政府正计划用别的树慢慢替换它们。这些经验可以被视为现代人类生活方式与自然法则间复杂关系的投射。在《水果猎人：关于自然、商业、冒险与痴迷的故事》一书中所提及的不同文化里水果的重要地位与神秘传说，水果在现代种植业推动下的“进化论”，水果的阶级属性，水果贸易，以及其资本化与工业化进程，为侯子超的果实形象提供了丰富的注脚。“画食物是一个很好的机会，让我找到描述我们与自然关系的落脚点，亲切具体。”
“猎果”一词直接指向侯子超的绘画行为，通过瞄准目标、追踪、筛选，投入技巧与耐心，在绘画行动中寻找结果。同时，“猎果”也可以被识别为侯子超的极具创造性的创作方法中的一环，它抓取了人与自然关系之间的机制，进一步对图像信息的传递与接收机制进行深刻探讨。绘画通过层层叠加的图像，构建了一个个看似熟悉却又充满陌生感的景象，这些图层就如同信息过滤器，有的信息得以显现，而有的则被遮蔽。侯子超对图层和图像的运用，正体现了这种遮蔽与显现的辩证关系。正如约翰·伯格所说：“我们注视的从来不只是事物本身；我们注视的永远是事物与我们之间的关系。”“猎果”也许提供了一种观看方式，在图像之下，思考作为个体在现代社会中的位置，以及我们与周围世界的真正关系。
展览将持续展出至2024年8月25日。
侯子超，《打叶折果回家》，2024，亚麻布面丙烯，165 × 300 cm｜Hou Zichao, Trophy in the Wild, 2024, acrylic on linen, 165 × 300 cm
Hou Zichao: Fruit Hunting
July 13–August 25, 2024
Gallery I & II | SPURS Gallery, D-06, 2 Jiuxianqiao RD.N, Chaoyang, Beijing
SPURS Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Hou Zichao’s new solo exhibition, “Fruit Hunting,” on July 13, 2024, featuring 16 of his recent paintings and installations of paintings in both Gallery I & II. Following his 2022 solo exhibition with the gallery, “Child in the Woods,” where Hou took his reflections on the human-nature relationship as the starting point of his paintings, “Fruit Hunting” brings together images of fruits, raw meat, animals, and natural views to further develop the discussion, constructing a critical aspect of Hou’s painting practice.
In Gallery I, the eponymous large-scale painting Fruit Hunting (2024) is placed at the visual center. On the canvas, nature is fundamentally complex and fluid, with floating blocks of color resembling not only fallen wild fruits seen in a lush forest but also flooding fragmented information found in modern societies. The painting serves as a marvelous example of the outcomes of Hou’s ongoing experimentation with images of fruits. As civilization progresses, food begins to accumulate increasingly complex significations. Hou once mentioned his various encounters with this inevitable subject: He hiked for days in the deep mountains, picking wild fruits and fetching river water to supplement his provisions; he tried raw mutton from a herdsman; and he found mango trees all over the streets and alleys during his first visit to the southern city Foshan as a northerner. Though they planted the mangoes in the first place, the local government plan on gradually replacing the trees with some other species. Due to the pollution and the sour taste of the variety, the mangoes are inedible making the fallen ripe fruits a nuisance to pavement cleaning and maintenance. These experiences provide snapshots of the intricate relationship between modern human lifestyles and natural laws. In his book The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce, and Obsession, Adam Leith Gollner examines the significant roles and mythical lores of fruits in various cultures, the “evolution” of fruits fueled by modern cultivation, the social class difference in fruit intake, the trade of fruits, as well as the capitalization and industrialization progress. These all provide rich interpretations of the fruits in Hou’s paintings. “Painting food offers a wonderful opportunity,” says the artist, “it’s a great place to start representing our relationship with nature, familiar and concrete.”
“Fruit hunting” also indicates the actions of Hou’s painting practice: seeking, tracking, selecting, devoting techniques and patience to find the result through the process. At the same time, “fruit hunting” can be recognized as one of the innovative parts of Hou’s methodology. It captures the mechanism of the relationship between humans and nature, which further explores the mechanism of transmitting and perceiving image information. Hou’s painting constructs familiar scenes that are yet imbued with a sense of unfamiliarity. The layers act as filters of information, allowing some to be revealed and others hidden. The use of painting layers and images precisely demonstrates the dialectical relationship between concealment and presentation. Just as John Berger says, “We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.” “Fruit Hunting” perhaps offers a way of seeing that allows us to consider where we are as individuals in modern society and our true relationship with the world around us.
The exhibition will be on view until August 25th, 2024.
关于艺术家
侯子超，1988年出生于中国山西，2012年毕业于英国中央圣马丁艺术设计学院，获学士学位，2013年毕业于英国切尔西艺术学院，获硕士学位，现生活和工作于中国北京。
侯子超的实践涉及绘画和装置在内的多种媒介，关注当下文化语境中人与自然间的矛盾关系。他利用图像语言强调人造景观与真实自然的距离，以及徘徊于安稳花园与欲望荒野之间的理想环境。在电子图像观看习惯与艺术家绘画行为的对峙中，隐藏着古代占卜与数据算法间复杂且个人化的表达——通过图层的堆叠与信息提取，从而实现“混乱”画面与抽象意向间的微妙平衡。
侯子超近期个展包括：“猎果”，马刺画廊，北京（2024）；“弗洛塞芬”，Tara Downs，纽约（2023）；“练地”，罐空间，台北（2023）；“厄尔塔”，马刺画廊，北京（2022）；“食物：侯子超与希拉里·佩西斯”（双个展），马刺画廊，ART021，上海（2021）；“天长地久”，Downs&Ross，纽约（2021）。群展包括：“半手动时代”，重美术馆，北京，中国（2024）；“风的内侧”，画廊周北京2024新势力单元，北京（2024）；“在缠绕里编织，在穿刺间缝补”，69 Art Campus，北京（2024）；“屏幕纵深：绘画里的数字革新”，广东当代艺术中心，广州（2024）；“作为中心的边缘：东北亚的界河、桥梁与记忆空间”，金鹰美术馆，南京（2023）；“跨界：可能与回响”，余德耀美术馆，上海（2023）；“Crossing Frontiers”，Nassima Landau，特拉维夫（2023）；“断裂的一代：90后的电子色、网络化、时尚消费、科幻散文和全球身份”，松美术馆，北京（2022）；“The Glass Bead Game”，MAMOTH，伦敦（2021）；“CLEAN”，马刺画廊，北京（2020）；“爱的艺术：亲密”，今日美术馆，北京（2018）；“青衿计划”，正观美术馆，北京；关山月美术馆，深圳（2016）。
侯子超的作品为众多国际重要机构收藏，包括：Nassima Landau Foundation，特拉维夫；余德耀美术馆，上海；龙美术馆，上海；松美术馆，北京；震旦博物馆，上海；筑中美术馆，北京；天泰美术馆，青岛；AAC基金，北京；霍特家族收藏，纽约；The Soil Collection，北京；深圳前海泰康医院，深圳。
Hou Zichao (b. 1988, Shanxi, China) received his BA Honors degree from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2012 and his Master’s degree from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2013. He now lives and works in Beijing.
Hou Zichao’s practice involves a variety of media, including painting and installation, which focuses on the ambivalent relationship between man and nature in the current cultural context. His pictorial language emphasizes the distance between artificial landscape and nature, and an ideal environment that hovers between the garden of tranquility and the wilderness of desire. In the confrontation between the electronic image viewing habits and the artist’s painting behavior, a complex and personal expression between ancient divination and data algorithm is hidden—through the superimposition of pictorial layers and the extraction of information, a delicate balance between "chaotic" images and abstract intentions is achieved.
Hou Zichao has been the subject of solo exhibitions including “Fruit Hunting,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing (2024); “Fallen lush racing share,” Tara Downs, New York (2023); “Practice Land,” Cans Project, Taipei (2023); “Child in the Woods,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing (2022); “Food Food: Hou Zichao & Hilary Pecis” (two-person exhibition), SPURS Gallery, ART021, Shanghai (2021); “Everlasting,” Downs & Ross, New York (2021). Hou Zichao’s works have been included in group exhibitions including “Semi-Manual Era,” Gravity Art Museum, Beijing (2024); “The Inner Side of the Wind,” Gallery Weekend Beijing 2024 Up&Coming Sector, Beijing (2024); “Weaving in Entanglement, Mending in Punctures,” 69 Art Campus, Beijing (2024); “Screen Depth：Digital innovation in painting,” Guangdong Contemporary Art Center, Guangzhou (2024); “Edges as the Center: Riverine Borders, Bridges and Memory Spaces between China, Mongolia, North Korea and Russia,” G Museum, Nanjing (2023); “Bordercrossing: Possibilities and Interactions,” Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2023); “Crossing Frontiers,” Nassima Landau, Tel Aviv (2023); “The Disconnected Generation,” Song Art Museum, Beijing (2022); “The Glass Bead Game”, MAMOTH, London (2021); “CLEAN,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing (2020); “LOVE LOVE LOVE: Intimate,” Today Art Museum, Beijing (2018); “Elite Young Artists Program,” Rightview Art Museum, Beijing; Guan Shanyue Art Mu-seum, Shenzhen (2016).
Hou Zichao’s works are in major collections worldwide, including Nassima Landau Foundation, Tel Aviv; Yuz Museum, Shanghai; Long Museum, Shanghai; Song Art Museum, Beijing; Aurora Museum, Shanghai; Zhuzhong Art Museum, Beijing; Tiantai Art Collection, Qingdao; AAC Foundation, Beijing; Hort Family Collection, New York; The Soil Collection, Beijing; Shenzhen Qianhai Taikang Hospital, Shenzhen.
SPURS 即将展出
侯子超：猎果
2024年7月13日—8月25日
Gallery I & II｜SPURS Gallery，北京市朝阳区酒仙桥北路二号院798艺术区D06
