Double Square 双方藝廊

Double Square Gallery is delighted to present Ū-iánn—Huang Chih-Cheng Solo Exhibition, which will run from July 1 to August 12, 2023, and will be the artist’s latest collaboration with the gallery since the group exhibition of 2021 – Younger Than Buddha. This exhibition will feature more than twenty artworks newly created by the artist. In recent years, Huang has continued an artistic approach: he first forms a creative basis with AI-generated images, and utilizes his signature techniques to combine mixed media, such as ink and metal leaf, with the form of negative films to delineate rich and nuanced emotional changes on human bodies in different postures with colors. Enshrouded in a shadowy, ambiguous ambiance, the manifestation of his aesthetic practice, which reveals a subtle fluidness created by the light, colors, and texture of metal leaf, not only looks into the interrelations between virtual algorithm and reality, but also expands the imagination and definition of gender and free body image through training the AI model repeatedly.

“Ū-iánn,” the title of the solo exhibition, is the artist’s appropriation of a Taiwanese term, meaning “true” or “real.” The artist uses the term as a metaphor for the authentic existence of certain things. Using AI generation technology to merge body images with real life, the artist aims to guide the audience to question mainstream body aesthetics and the value it represents. Through endlessly repeating movements using digital media and controlling algorithmic parameters, the artist draws inspiration from classical sculptures, such as Cupid and Psyche and Antikythera Youth, and transforms them into vehicles for exploring gender, identity and boundary of the self, deconstructing dichotomous gender norms by moving between gender, image and narrative. His work reinterprets existing imagination of humanity with ambiguous boundaries, and investigates interconnections between art and technology as well as the body and the self, using the body as a medium and emotions as clues to unveil diverse possibilities of surpassing conventional and existing categories. Through his works, Huang not merely transcends conventional images defined by social frameworks, but also projects personal feelings and experiences into his creations. Unlike his previous works, in which he uses vibrant colors as signs, the vivid contrast between ink and paper in his latest works serve as a metaphor for feelings, desires, and the sense of lost amidst glistening lights of civilization—sometimes warm, and sharp at other times, they embody Huang’s personal sensibility and thinking, prompting spectators to reflect on social frameworks.