Primitive aesthetics in the here-and-now digital world are expressed through art during "Digital Primitivism" running at Tang Contemporary Art until March 11.
An acrylic on canvas by Gao Hang. (Photo courtesy of Tang Contemporary Art)
This is the first solo exhibition in Bangkok by Chinese artist Gao Hang who employs primitive painting techniques, themes, colour principles and symbolic images in his 16 paintings.
Born in the early 90s, the artist is a member of the first generation to grow up amid 3D modelling and rendering. Throughout his youth and up to the end of the 20th century, the images were an amazing visual experience for him. Twenty years later, however, he came to see them as coarse and absurd.
Nonetheless, the production processes to create digital images echo the impulses behind and experience of contemporary painting. This inspired him to focus on the advent of the digital world in his works.
The viewer's experience will take in a collision of exaggeratedly coloured areas against sharp edges, a rough mapping onto geometric models, as well as awkward yet direct dynamics and interactions between models. The paintings represent the artist's memory of his first heartbeat and feelings as a child upon entering a new world.
Hang currently lives and works in Houston, Texas. He's highly regarded for illustrating modern online behaviours with a sense of humour and absurdity while ironically commenting on people's need for instant gratification on digital screens.
His work has appeared in global publications including L'Officiel, Artforum, The Art News, Art In America and The Hypebeast.
Tang Contemporary Art is at Room 201-206 of River City Bangkok, Charoen Krung 24, and is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm.
Visit tangcontemporary.com.
