Richard Koh Fine Art (RKFA) is delighted to present Tang Bohua’s solo exhibition titled Tidal Wave 水生.色 at our gallery at Bangsar Village II, Level 2, Lot No. 2F-3, Jalan Telawi 1, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 25 Nov to 9 Dec 2015. This exhibition is the artist’s first with the gallery and in Malaysia. The opening reception will be held on 25th Nov from 6 to 9 pm.
Tang Bohua’s Tidal Wave 水生.色 depicts romantic observations on the passing of time and the world through paintings and animations. As a child growing up in China, the artist spent some time playing in the Buddhist temples, observing craftsmen sculpting bodhisattva sculptures and painting murals, and listened to wise men speak of tales of gods and demons; conjuring an imaginative world in the young artist’s mind. It is an unforgettable realm and indescribable by words.
The artist as a young man also enthusiastically read an ancient Chinese text, Zhuangzi, from the late Warring states period (3rd century BC) that describes subtle experiences of the world in beautiful romanticized statements. One such statement describes that “an insect of the summer cannot be talked with about ice”, igniting an interest in the artist regarding parallel existences, whether macro or micro, and the limiting realities that we are confined in in an ever-expanding universe. Thus through his beautiful painted polyptychs composed of paint and minerals on plasterboard, the artist depicts changes in the natural landscape, motions of the seasons, reminding the viewer that time is constantly flowing. In his animation films, he depicts protagonists that actively explore the world around them, living life to the fullest, yet whose existence are limited only to three seasons; like the frail lives of the insects of summer.
Tang Bohua (b. 1986, Liuyang, Hunan Province) graduated from the printmaking department of the China Academy of Art in 2009. He is currently the founder and director of Beijing Inkman Cultural Communication Co. Ltd., China. Solo exhibitions include Summer Insects Can’t Tell the Feeling of Ice (2014) at MOUart, Beijing, China and The Country of Summer Insects (2014), Banye, Hangzhou, China. He lives and works in China.
