Vermilion Art presents artworks by 2018 Sydney Biennale artist, Geng Xue, and young contemporary ink artist Sun Ziyao. in PAREIDOLIA.

The phenomenon of pareidolia refers to the human tendency to perceive connection or make meaning from ambiguous or random stimuli, for instance, when we see the shape of a face in a cloud formation, or an image or pattern within nature or on an everyday object.

While Geng Xue and Sun Ziyao’s works do not directly explore this bizarre yet ubiquitous phenomenon of perception, their duo exhibition establishes a space where viewers are invited to meditate over the myriad of different meanings and perspectives pervading through the artworks.

The theme of Pareidolia pays homage to the 2018 Sydney Biennale’s theme Superposition, which is a principle derived from quantum mechanics. Mami Kataoka, the Artistic Director of the Biennale, adopted the term as a metaphor for the different perspectives and interpretations of history and art.

Drawing on the Biennale’s theme of Superposition, Vermilion Art exhibition PAREIDOLIA also plays with the concept of perception and perspective as Geng Xue and Sun Ziyao’s duo exhibition, both consciously and subconsciously, encourages its audience to explore and examine the possible perspective and meanings within their artworks.

Renowned for her delicate, yet lively porcelain sculptures and video installations, Geng Xue has developed her own contemporary style by reconceptualising tales and mythologies from the past and present. As a young artist navigating the ever-changing contemporary landscape, Geng’s art practice is constantly transforming and shifting as she experiments with different mediums and styles.

Geng Xue departs from sculpture and turns in ink for Vermilion Art’s Pareidolia exhibition, which comprises of never before seen artworks. Concerned with the futility of life and the human condition, Geng Xue’s artworks are imbued with sense of uncertainty as they communicate a melancholic and sombre sensibility. Life and death; love and violence; war and peace; these are just some of the dualities that Geng’s ink paintings embody.

Geng is also exhibiting her deeply moving single-channel film, Poetry of Michelangelo (2015) for the 21st Sydney Biennale, installed at Artspace for the duration of the Biennale. Some might also recall her video art and porcelain sculptures Mr Sea (2014), featured at White Rabbit Gallery’s last exhibition Ritual Spirit. Sun Ziyao returns to Australia, after his first successful solo exhibition Ink Instinct at Vermilion Art in 2016.

 

Sun Ziyao (b.1987) in Dalian, a major city and seaport located on the Liaoning Peninsula. The artist held his first solo exhibition at Vermilion Art in 2016. At the successful exhibition, his works have been not only enjoyed by art lovers but also collected by some leading artists including Ah Xian.

Sun Ziyao has developed his own artistic visual language as he communicates his deep appreciation for traditional Chinese culture, by adopting Chinese ink painting techniques, while contemporaneously revealing a kind of modern sensibility by emanating from each unique work.

PAREIDOLIA runs at Vermilion Art [Facebook]  5/16 Hickson Rd Walsh Bay from 6th of April at 6.30pm when the exhibition will be officially opened by art adviser/curator Natalia Bradshaw.