Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
GAO HANG
Such a healing piece of art, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
40.5 x 30.5 x 7.5 cm
Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
Sofa Kit, solo exhibition by Gao Hang. Installation view at L21 Gallery, 2022.
GAO HANG
Your cyber wife is your son, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
152.5 x 244 cm
GAO HANG
Your cyber wife is your son, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
152.5 x 244 cm
GAO HANG
People with glitch, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
76 x 122 cm
GAO HANG
Their career is watching the dollar, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
152.5 x 183 cm
The title of the exhibition “Sofa Kit”, phonetically understood as “so, fuck it”, might sound like the opening joke of a stand-up comedy show. This is not surprising, as the artist often listens to comedic monologues in his studio, and inevitably this sense of humour leaks through the painting and slowly permeates Gao Hang’s work.
From a purely structural perspective, the parts that make up a painting – wood, canvas, staples, and paint – are the same as those that would be used in the making of a sofa. Clearly, Gao’s paintings are not a sofa and are not intended to create any sense of comfort, coziness, or restfulness – quite the opposite. Like a biting humorist, Hang establishes a conversation with the viewers in which he challenges political correctness and belief systems through absurdity. Works such as “Your cyber wife is your son” illustrate the artist’s sarcastic understanding of the virtual world and its language.
The artist wanders the internet with the same gaze with which many early 20th century avant-garde artists used to stroll, searching for objects that could become a ready-made. He understands 3D graphics as 21st century “found objects” and what fascinates him about them is their rawness, weirdness and awkwardness.
Inspired by 3D modeling and graphic rendering in computer games over the last 20 years, his work reflects on how the graphic magnificence of a particular period can quickly come to be seen as raw, naive, primitive or ridiculous as the digital image continues to evolve.
Despite being a figurative painter, he renounces any narrative reading of his paintings and describes himself as a color-field painter. When looking at works such as “Sisyphus figured it all out” or “Man Talking” it is easy to forget what one thinks one is seeing and end up immersed in a world of vibrant colour surfaces and sharp angles, two qualities that any reasonable person would avoid when choosing a sofa…
Enrique Suasi
EN / ES
Gao Hang (born in 1991, in Baoding, China) currently lives and works in Houston, TX. Gao moved to Houston, Texas in 2015, to attain an MFA in Painting from the University of Houston after obtaining a BA in Oil Painting from the Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, 2013.
Hang’s recent paintings are concerned with the image “definition” in digital graphics, especially those produced in the last 20 years. Hang evokes the postmodernist neo-pop movement, by using subject matter and color as a conceptual and structural armature. Deliberately, Hang uses fluorescent hues which he considers to be the tones of his generation. Understanding digital graphics as 21st century “found objects”, Hang is interested in objects that are bathing in modern technology’s greatness, while exposing a certain rawness, oddity, or awkwardness due to their obsolescence. In the artist’s words: “My artistic process has something to do with my habits and obsessions. I mostly listen to stand-up comedy while making my work. I enjoy stand-up comedy that challenges general beliefs, and political correctness, yet at its core is negotiating between the observations, language, and laughter of a given performance. Then you realize that it’s no paradox, but a good conversation between the performer and the audience. At some point, my paintings are like stand-up comedy, they can only do so much about solving real problems. But brutal honesty, absurdity, and humor are very powerful qualities in any type of conversation.”
His work has been exhibited in numerous major art venues in China, US, Spain, Germany, Korea, Netherlands, and England. He was recently awarded the Artadia Houston Fellowship Award, Brooklyn, New York and Houston Art Alliance – Artists and Creative Individuals Grant, Houston, Texas.
GAO HANG, China, 1991.
Lives and works in Texas (US)
2023
DUVE Gallery, Berlin, Germany (DE)
Digital Primitivism, Tang Contemporary Art Center, Bangkok (THA)
2022
MY BAD IDEAS. Pulpo gallery, Berlin (DE)
Sofa Kit, L21 Gallery, Palma (ES)
You are completely special. Breach Gallery, Miami (FL)
2021
GAO HANG!, The Hole (NY)
A Little Bit Wrong. Waluso Gallery, London (UK)
Instant Gratification. Anya Tish Gallery, Houston (TX)
Almost Extraordinary. The Winter Street Gallery, Houston (US)
Phase II. The Hole Gallery, East Hampton (NY)
Instant Gratification. Anya Tish Gallery, Houston (US)
21st Century Realism. COVA Gallery, Eindhoven (NL)
2019
Surface or Skin. Anya Tish Gallery, Houston (TX)
2018
30 Fluorescent Bears. Project Gallery, Houston (TX)
Good Times, Bad Times. Art League Houston, Houston (TX)
2017
Two Sharks. Secondbedroom Gallery, Los Angeles (CA)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
CA’N BOOM!. L21 Gallery and Ca’n Marquès, Palma (ES)
Entre Cajas. L21 Palma, Palma (ES)
2022
Armory show NY with the Hole gallery, NY (USA)
Broken Piñata. L21 Palma, Palma (ES)
Newtro. Everyday Gallery, Antwerp (BE)
DISCO NAP. Eligere Galley, Soul (KOR)
Global Song. Tang Contemporary Art Center, Hong Kong (CH)
2021
Eating Sugar, No Papa!, L21 Gallery, Palma (ES)
OMGWTF, Primary Gallery, Miami (FL)
Birth of Venus, Pulpo Gallery, Murnau (DE)
NATURE MORTE, The Hole Gallery, New York (NY)
Art Taipei, Taipei World Trade Center, Taiwan (CH)
Collect It for the Culture, Midway Gallery, Houston (TX)
Thinking Out Loud, Pulpo Gallery, Murnau (DE)
The Fiction, Gallery Func, Shanghai (CH)
Now Now, Breach Gallery, Miami (FL)
Don’t Go South, Studio Berkheim (DE)
2020
DAZZLED. GR Gallery, New York (NY)
Sunny Art Prize Exhibition. Sunny Art Centre, London (UK)
Sine Sole Sileo. Anya Tish Gallery, Houston (TX)
In Praise of American Cheese. Anya Tish Gallery, Houston (TX)
Self-Portrait. UNCW Art Gallery, Wilmington (NC)
Moving Still. San Jacinto College North Gallery, Houston (TX)
2019
The Illusion and Reality. Ning Gallery, Manhattan (NY)
What We Eat and Wear. CICA Museum of Art, Gimpo (SK)
Small Works 2019. Five Points Gallery, Torrington (US)
2018
Big Show 2018. Lawndale Art Center, Houston
Color 2018. CICA Museum of Art, Gimpo, South Korea
Fifth Annual Regional Juried Exhibition. Artspace 111, Fort Worth (US)
In Control. Clarke and Associates Gallery, Houston (US)
2017
New Texas Talent Show. Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas (US)
Unspeakably human or unimaginably bestial? Anya Tish Gallery, Houston (US)
Calais Jungle. Second Bedroom Gallery, Houston (US)
2016
Daylight Savings. Brandon Gallery, Houston (US)
Big Show 2016. Lawndale Art Center, Houston (US)
Artists Group Show. Diversity Center Gallery, Houston (US)
ART FAIRS
2023
KIAF SEOUL. L21 Gallery, Seoul (KOR)
CAN ART IBIZA 2023. L21 Gallery, Ibiza (ES)
2022
ARCO 22. L21 Gallery, Madrid (ES)
ZONA. The Hole, Mexico City (MEX)
2021
Untitled Art Fair. The Hole, Miami (EU)
COLLECTIONS
CICA Museum of Art, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
Lawndale Art Center, Houston, US
Art Museum of Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
Chinese Quintessence Arts Museum, Beijing, China