Mocube is delighted to announce He Tianqi’s solo exhibition “Static”. Over a long period of time, He Tianqi meandered on the streets and alleys across the country, and like many graffiti writer, to discover his relationship with the world through this medium of artistic expression. “Graffiti” as a representative genre in visual subculture, whose self-generated logic was neither formulated from established the cultural principles nor a language of representation. And as the global capital conflated, the commercial system began to “incorporate” graffiti culture in 1972, and adopted its features into a broader consumer environment. China today in the globalized context has inscrutably magnified these characteristics, which makes graffiti art in China look like knock-offs. Works that depict the various aspects of reality are difficult to come across. In the winter of 2016, He Tianqi presented one of his most important graffiti project at OCAT Xi’an – “Universe Creation”. For this exhibition, He Tianqi transformed the exhibition into a hand scroll. Its figures, animals, plants, gods and ghosts drew inspirations from the Ming Dynasty scroll “Universe Creation”. The original “encyclopedic” images were transformed through regrouping and appropriation into a unique order and plausible scenario. This project provided the artist with new perceptions about space and imagery. Thereon, He Tianqi began to gradually obscure the narrative in the image as he formulates his own visual landscape. In addition, He intentionally incorporates writing style from spray painting/graffiti and conventional painting approaches together, by which to develop a set of observational mechanism and artistic practice that are uniquely.

This exhibition entitled, “Static” refers to the artist’s process of visual transformation for this series of works. In which, the once meaningful images are obscured into colors, to creates static sparks. As these everyday images and his preconceived scenarios are put together, visual communications on a pictorial level is established. For this reason, He adopted multiple colors to dissolve the possibility of painting as illustration, and intentionally construct the composition so the real images can be inserted into these color fields, that would subsequently create a sense of distance. For instance, “Sphere and Cube” (2018), He Tianqi tries to search for a compositional logic through colors, to allow the viewers to decipher the relationship between the sphere and the cube through colors. In turn, the viewer can be engaged in such intense spatial arrangement, thereby the artist projects the underlying danger and a strong sense of imbalance of the image. With this kind of working approach, the essence of graffiti – the unhinged release – is fully concealed by the order of the image, where it becomes difficult for the viewer to identify his specific thoughts and emotions, yet without denying the presence of an intrinsic mood and sentiment. In Datura(2018), the flower motifs are stretched out into lines that gradually hover over its sprayed base, while the differences in its colors and textures challenge their surficial relationship. The multiple layers of the image overlap and distract the viewer’s gaze - these technical manipulations encapsulate He Tianqi’s emotional experiences. From the present perspective, these emotions do not seem as important. However, for the artist, it is important that he has brilliantly concealed his thoughts and emotions within these self-invented visual mechanisms and painting approaches. Regardless of his effort, static sparks unexpectedly, offering surprises to reality.

This exhibition continues to September 17, 2018.