Double Square 双方藝廊

Double Square Gallery is delighted to present An Ode to Youth, the solo exhibition of artist Zhang Xiao-Xiong, which is scheduled from April 12 to May 4, 2025. This exhibition signifies the artist’s first solo exhibition as a photographer in Taiwan, showcasing 16 black-and-white images taken during his dance studies in Australia. The title, “An Ode to Youth,” refers to Zhang’s first photography exhibition in Australia back in 1990, symbolizing a celebration and a commemoration of youth. This exhibition traces the artist’s distinctive creative expression that connects dance with photography. The artworks, featuring various subjects, including dancers and athletes, encapsulate the extraordinary beauty and strength of the human body, engaging viewers with the vibrant, perplexing, and transient beauty of youth through the interplay of body, emotions, and time.

The exhibition focuses on the aesthetic appeal of bodily movements and the fluid expression of inner feelings, delving into the connection between “posture” and “emotion.” Through his perspective, Zhang captures the pure essence and dynamic fluidity of dancers’ and athletes’ movements, emphasizing the transient nature of youth. His images depict the trained bodies and movements of the subjects and convey postural beauty while celebrating youthful days, enabling viewers to vividly perceive the vitality and unfiltered excitement of youth.

The 16 featured works illuminate various aspects of youth. In the series titled hot blood, close-up shots of open palms highlight the textural lines of the hands, while the black-and-white tone intensifies the tension. Through photographic immediacy, the series captures the emotional peak of bodily movements in their most authentic expression. In the Palms questions themes of control and destiny through performative bodily expression. The bending arms create dual imagery of openness and closure, with suspended gestures suggesting an unseen universe is being manipulated, infusing dramatic tension into the image. The bare body candidly conveys emotions as well. Zhang’s male nude photography transcends mere depiction of the human body. Curator Hu Yung-Fen notes that his body of work “inherits the Western, idealized human form embodied by Greek sculptures while demonstrating an ability to capture sculptural beauty in dynamic physical movements. Moreover, his compositions, characterized by a balance of tension and relaxation, along with a nuanced grasp of the interplay of light and shadow, reveal the minimalist, reserved, restrained, and poetic qualities of Eastern aesthetics.”

 

Zhang Xiao-Xiong (b. Cambodia) graduated from the Department of History at Jinan University in Guangzhou in 1982. Later, he moved to Australia, where he studied dance and graduated from the Centre for the Performing Arts, Adelaide, in 1985. He was a principal dancer with the Australian Dance Theatre and received several accolades, including Best Male Dancer and Best Choreographer from The Advertiser. Additionally, he was featured Austral-Asian Who’s Who (1992) as a dancer, choreographer, and photographer. In late 1996, he relocated to Taipei, where he became an associate professor in the Department of Dance at Taipei National University of the Arts and served as a visiting lecturer at the Hoffman Academy in Australia. He has taught and choreographed in Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, and China.