Nong Shaohua
Before moving to Songzhuang, Beijing and settling in a studio in 2010, Nong Shaohua had several jobs in Shanxi Province, where he was born and grew up. Nong worked maintaining boilers and cleaning trains and never engaged in any formal academic art study. Instead Nong explored his own way of painting. Decrepit bikes, leave covered country roads, a voyeuristic man leaning against a wall, a chicken wandering on a roof… Nong’s unique and free organization of these ordinary, seemingly insignificant aspects of his paintings reveal to us the indeterminate plot, subtle symbols, and humorous irony that marks his work.
Nong Shaohua says his inspiration comes mainly from meditating, and that he is also influenced by the random and accidental in everyday life. He also draws some influences from film. On looking at his paintings it is clear that he intentionally avoids presenting a clear cultural identity, and similarly avoids topics linked to current events and happenings. This is clear from the ways in which Nong often obscures the individuality of the characters in his paintings, as well as their social status, cultural backgrounds and even genders. He ultimately creates his own worlds within his paintings, one which is fantastical in its detachment from the real world. His canvases are not marked by some traditional Chinese painting style, nor are they comfortably viewed and understood with reference to Western, or ancient, or even contemporary artistic techniques and subjects. For example, his paintings are often not constrained by traditional rules of perspective.
In all of this Nong Shaohua is able to present a surreal and dreamlike world, both in form, technique, and subject. Nong hopes that his paintings are accessible and that no matter where his audiences come from and regardless of their cultural background they are able to read the stories he presents, become lost in their plots, and feel their varied emotions, from depression and sadness to happiness and cheerfulness.
Reference: Daily Fantasy: Nong Shaohua and His Art by Chen Honghan
|
1960 |
Born in Shanxi Province |
|
Present: |
Lives and works in Beijing |
|
Residency
2019 Live in Art Sydney Residency, Australia
Solo Exhibitions
|
|
|
2020 |
A Rich Man of Time, Red Gate Gallery |
|
2019 |
Anonymity, Red Gate Gallery |
|
2018 |
Madness + Mayhem, Red Gate Gallery |
|
2016 |
Montage of the Mind, Red Gate Gallery |
|
2014 |
Scent of a Poppy, Xi Space, Beijing |
|
|
Golden Years, ART Gallery, Beijing |
|
2013 |
Daily Koan - Oil Painting, Abstract Art Gallery, Beijing |
|
2012 |
Reunion, 110 Art Space, Beijing Debris and Memories, MN Space, Beijing |
|
|
|
|
Group Exhibitions
|
|
|
|
|
|
2020 |
Marching Forward, Red Gate Gallery |
|
2019 |
Spring is Coming, Red Gate Gallery |
|
2018 |
Unclassified, Dahe Gulf Art Museum, Beijing |
|
2017 |
Red Gate on the Move, Red Gate Gallery |
|
|
Alternative Contemporary Art, E+Hive Art & Design Gallery, Australia |
|
2016 |
Discards and Implements -- Presentation of Individual Spirit, Dahe Bay Art Museum, Beijing |
|
|
Second Independent Character Nominations, Dahe Bay Award, Dahe Bay Art Museum, Beijing |
|
|
2006 – 2016 Songzhuang Museum of Art 10th Anniversary, Beijing |
|
|
Secret Garden, Contemporary Art Museum, Beijing |
|
|
All Rivers Run into the Sea, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing |
|
|
Third Back North, Beijing |
|
|
My Living Room - Red Gate Gallery 25th Anniversary, Red Gate Gallery |
|
|
SPLURGE!, Red Gate Gallery |
|
2015 |
He for Her, Ginkgo Space, Beijing Captain Nong Shaohua and Jia Bei, Dahe Bay Art Museum, Beijing Chinese Contemporary Artists, Hokkaido, Japan Between Cold and Warmth, Milky Way Space, Beijing Under the Surface, SZ Space, Beijing Art is Borderless, Sunshine Museum, Beijing |
|
2014 |
Acknowledged: Gained and Felt, Chengming Wanhe Museum, Beijing |
|
|
Old Nong and Jia Bei, 3138 Ku A Space, Beijing |
Artist Statement:
Experience is not creation, it is accessible to all. Art works are independent worlds, and the birth of each work is a creative miracle. My works are coincidental, subconscious, meditative, and fervently passionate. Some of the recent ones are titled, "An Anonymous Place," "Portrait of an Anonymous Person," and "An Anonymous Afternoon," which are aimed to detach the works from specific places, people, and times, making them broader and more fluid, giving the audience more room for interpretation. These works are not mere reflections of my life experience nor sketches of my visual experience—simple presentations and expressions like that would make the works straightforward and narrow. I think there must be more information and ideas behind every good painting, through which the audience can feel the excitement of the painter, facing the canvas, full of the desire to speak and articulate.
--- Nong Shaohua
