On March 11th (Saturday), L-Art Gallery will present the first solo exhibition of Xiang Zhenhua in China, “Xiang Zhenhua-Testers”, which is also the gallery’s first exhibition in this year. The exhibition will showcase about thirty image works created by the artist between 2011 and 2016. In this exhibition, the artist portrays “objects” that have direct relation with people from the angle of transcendental philosophy. These objects are truly inlaid in the elements of the works, to which shocking meanings are deeply attached.

In an acquisitive era, some products, such as packaging boxes and decorative plastic plates in different shapes, or ordinary cassettes, a trace of dust and a slice of fur, all become the focus of Xiang Zhenhua before they reach the consumers. Have you ever noticed their beauty? Or do you only consider them as accessories of main subjects? Xiang Zhenhua helps people re-attach importance to those “ignored non-subjects” from a visual angle.

Through a series of delicately-portrayed works, the exhibition moves these unneeded objects to the center of vision and changes them into leads and highlights. Large-size presents the original visual ascription of these “Testers” in daily life. And “Testers” are also the objects that the artist has been paying attention to all along. He delicately interprets the mutuality and equality of all lives. The exhibition includes “Testers”, “Boxes”, solely- exhibited fur, chocolate boxes and so on. These series have both mutual natures and respective characters. Among these works, “Boxes” series are earlier works of Xiang Zhenhua. Before they formally become consumption goods, their values have been discovered in advance. During his production process, the artist does not choose the usual path of using camera to catch the images. After the choice of objects, Xiang Zhenhua acquires images by scanning. Afterwards, he modifies the pictures according to his ideas or the so-called “concept” by himself and produces the images that we see in the end, which deduces and suggests: just like we are often put into boxes and sent away after we die, the meaning of box is to put old or new objects in. The “Testers” and “Boxes” series verify each other, conveying direct feelings through images and “borders”. Then the images become tenable. After the basic element is formed, color and space can be defined. The discussion of “existence” is upgraded in both “Testers” and the solely-exhibited fur and chocolate boxes. Different colors are stuck into borders. Different colors contain different materials. A relationship between objects and people is established.

Chinese artist in France, Xiang Zhenhua was born in Chongqing, China in 1984. He has successively acquired diplomas from both the world-famous School of images Gobelins in and the highest educational institution in France-School of Fine Arts of Paris. He has experienced both the strict school training and the baptism of contemporary art. He has blended his perfect and rigorous status and the naturally-born aesthetical feeling into both Western and Eastern cultural fields. From the nearly-paranoid attitude in his works, we can feel the piety of this art follower. This exhibition is the first solo exhibition of artist Xiang Zhenhua in China. In “Testers”, through the realistic reproduction of objects, the artist presents to the audience a direct and naked form of image. All the exhibited works join to create an open topic. We hope these works can converse and communicate with the audience and help them acquire their own understandings.