HUANG HONGTAO (B. 1983)

Nameless Mountain

Details

HUANG HONGTAO (B. 1983)
Nameless Mountain
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
100 x 178 cm. (39 3⁄8 x 70 in.)
Signed by the artist, with three seals
Dated xinchou year (2021)

Further details

Ink Art in Motion: The Post-’70s Generation

The post-70s generation born in mainland China is perhaps the luckiest in the twentieth century. Historical events in the first half of the 20th century, such as the dynastic transition and warfare with foreign powers, were only the stories in their textbooks. In the 1960s, political movements have become key themes in Chinese art and literature. These movements eventually progressed to a new stage and gradually dwindled. The generation thus grew up in a period when the society was reconstructing knowledge. People enjoyed an unprecedented openness as China sought a new political ideology and a functional economy. As we entered the 80s and the 90s, the youngsters held much enthusiasm for exploration, with a strong desire to participate in the globalization discourse unfamiliar to them. For them, the ability to express individuality has become their foundation in artmaking, reflected in their unique artistic styles and perspectives. Freedom is undoubtedly the main characteristic of the era.

The group of artists presented here painted different faces in Chinese ink paintings. Wu Qiang and Zhu Xiaoqing adhere to the proxy of traditional Chinese landscape paintings. They strive to instil contemporary elements to make landscape works more relevant to our times. Lu Junzhou, Lu Hui, and Chu Chu, inspired by different aesthetic origins, explore abstractionism, near-abstractionism and realism. The riveting works by Tong Tianqing, Sun Hao, Qiu Jiongjiong, Liu Qi, and Huang Hongtao are unique in their own right and share a refreshing, lighthearted visual pleasure with the viewers. The works by female painters such as Peng Wei, Xu Hualing, Pan Wenxun, and He Hongyu exude a peaceful and gentle appearance compared to their male counterparts, but they manifest a quiet, restrained power upon a closer look.

The three Hong Kong artists have distinct characteristics compared to their Mainland Chinese contemporaries. Having grown up in an economically fast-developing society, these artists experienced the end of British Colonialism and the implementation of the One Country, Two Systems policy. The small urban space has made them further explore the city and reflect on their identities. Therefore in their painting, Hong Kong often appears to be the primary feature, both implicitly and explicitly.

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Lot Essay

Huang Hongtao was born in 1983 in Heilongjiang and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Harbin Normal University. Huang paints landscape of Northeastern China, most of which he titles Nameless Mountain. For him Nameless Mountain symbolises both a specific site and the traditional Chinese cultural belief system that he is firmly rooted from. The unpolluted, pure scenery is interpreted and expressed by the artist with strong, primary colours such as black, blue and red. Fishing Handbag is a playful composition that reflects on the relationship between culture and consumerism. The artist invites viewers to ponder whether materialism and luxury, embodied by a handbag, or one’s cultural identity that is manifested in the Nameless Mountain is worthy of viewers’ attention and consumption.

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