Hu Yun is born in Shanghai in 1986, graduated from China Academy of Fine Arts in 2008. I currently live and work in Melbourne and Shanghai.
Hu Yun’s works include painting, watercolor painting, performance, video recording, and installation.
Hu Yun is good at mobilising the experiences of different characters and stories, and reintegrating various materials from the past into his daily work. Therefore, artists and audiences cannot view every work of artists in isolation. Each project has a predetermined and interrelated common theme.
Hu Yun himself mainly engages in architectural structures. Most of his works are closely related to nature, with some focusing on elements such as plants and insects.Hu Yun, with a nostalgic heart and a warning attitude towards the audience, pays attention to nature. He incorporates simple concepts and elements into his works, transforming them into simple forms and creating rich experiences. He likes to attract public attention in interesting or engaging ways and immerse himself in his works.
Hu Yun’s works often give people a simple and rustic beauty, and after a long search.
They give people a true sense of happiness and security.
It tends to improve society with a sense of calmness and peace, rather than using the powerful creative methods of some artists.
“Treasure Chest” (sketch), installation, 100x80x80cm, wooden board, screen printing, color, 2012
Everything is the same
In Hu Yun’s 2008 work “Everything is the same”, the pillar in the center of the room looks no different from him.
Quietly moving back and forth in front of us at an extremely slow speed that cannot be distinguished by the naked eye.
Every millimeter of the movement of the huge cylinder became a mystery,it slowly unfolded like a poem.
Therefore, Hu Yun’s new series focuses more on natural history research to gain new artistic reflections. The exhibition “Mysterious Garden No.1: Riverside” revolves around a unique Chinese animal.
This type of mountain chicken,is described in detail in Li Zhen’s book “The Material Media Gang” (1586).
In the 19th century, like other unique flora and fauna, it was discovered by a tea master named John.
This river (1774-1856) was the first to be introduced to the West. During his annual business trip to Guangzhou, Rivers commissioned local painters to create various animal and plant illustrations, collect animal and plant specimens and seeds. Hu Yun’s works are based on various narrative clues, attempting to reconstruct historical information, legends, and personal experiences.
When curious British people hunted this rare bird near Shanghai, they found it “always too fast to see clearly…” It was this short scene that aroused the curiosity of Westerners and created a legend, a story.
As the artist said, “History is always hidden in the intangible, and we observe, search, and speculate through different memories, experiences, and understandings.”
Mysterious Garden No.1: Riverside
Hu Yun’s Exhibition
Hu Yun has participated in many biennials around the world. For example, the 6th Singapore Biennale (2019), the 4th and 11th Guangzhou Biennale and the 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale.
His work has also been exhibited in leading contemporary museums around the world. These include: the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Guangdong Times Museum of Art, ecc.
His solo exhibitions include:
“Micro Landscape” held at the National University Museum of Singapore in 2019;
“We have never left”, Xi’an Organizing Committee, Xi’an, 2017;
“Narrative Disease”, Aike, Shanghai, China, 2016;
“Handle with Care”, Aike, Shanghai, China, 2013;
“Our Ancestors”, Goethe Open Space, Shanghai, China, 2012;
“Water in Nature”, Museum of Natural History, London, UK, 2010.
Sources
Introduce of HU YUN
Evolution: Confusion in the Yuan Dynasty – The Grand Opening of Space