Explicit, Humorous and Fresh
Andrew James Art is showing some oil paintings by the young artist Zhou Yilun under the title "Just Joking." The paintings range widely in their content from tigers to fighting soccer players to girls in bikinis splashing around. However, the paintings are unified stylistically with an extremely enjoyable, very fresh brushstroke that is, at times, more controlled and at others, more expressionistic. Zhou lets his colors run into one another, creating a generally unpolished, not too pristine look. What makes his paintings successful are the Chinese phrases written across them. It would be easy for any text to overwhelm a painting, but Zhou cleverly blends the characters into the piece so that they are not immediately legible, striking a balance between image and text. As we detect what the words say, we are given a lens through which to contemplate the paintings. Designer Adverts-Chanel (2008) and Designer Adverts-Louis Vuitton (2008) show women holding designer bags in advertisements. A large red star is brushed across the former, a muddy "Louis Vuitton" cuts across the latter. Zhou questions materialism here and what "Louis Vuitton" really means. In another painting, Running Fast-UFO (2008), a UFO casts a beam of light onto two running tigers, while in the background a pagoda stands untouched. This is a very bizarre scene, with a humorous quality. Do the tigers represent something else? Perhaps "running fast" refers to a larger concept, perhaps not. The most frequent subject in Zhou's work is women, especially women as objects, like the women masturbating in Full Blossom. In this piece women are placed next to pink, blossoming flowers. An easy parallel can be drawn between the two, but what is Zhou's stance on the objectification of women? Is Zhou "just joking" around? The artist's work leaves us wondering.

Helena Zhang

Details:

When: Through Sunday, May 18
Add: 39 Maoming Bei Lu 茂名北路39号
Tel: 5228-7550