The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) Catalogue

Artists The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 76 Act IV from 'The chase of Apollo' 2021 Ink and colour on silk / 26.8 x 42cm, 41.9 x 57cm (framed) (opposite) Japanese fleet leaving China from 'The chase of Apollo' 2021 Print / 7.2 x 17cm Purchased 2021 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / Images courtesy: Vitamin Creative Space Hao Liang works in ink and wash on silk to produce spellbinding artworks that combine rigorous training in Chinese classical painting with an inquisitive contemporary consciousness. Titled for the Greek sun-god’s pursuit of the water nymph Daphne — and her transformation into a tree to elude his advances — 'The chase of Apollo' series 2021 comprises an expansive scroll and a suite of four paintings that draw on moments of reflection and encounter from across Chinese history. Reuben Keehan Artist statement Sunset is one of the most spectacular moments in nature; it transcends the boundaries between past and future. As Claude Lévi-Strauss writes in Tristes Tropiques (1955): Sunset is quite a different matter; it is a complete performance with a beginning, a middle and an end. And the spectacle offers a sort of small-scale image of the battles, triumphs and defeats which have succeeded each other during twelve hours in tangible form; but also at a slower speed. 1 Yet, following this grandeur comes the fall of night — in a sense, sunset symbolises the transition from joy to sorrow. To me, it is like a stage play. I made a series of paintings in four acts, which are derived from the tradition of having poetry in one’s painting and painting in poetry. I want to record my daily observations and feelings and compose the plots with lengthways and subjective colours. Furthermore, I hope to empathise with the individuals in specific histories, capturing their feelings and thus embodying their individualities. Looking for a gap between past and present, I hope to extract their feelings from the macro-historical narrative. From 1900 to 1959, China experienced unprecedented change. In a world in turmoil, the people of China struggled, survived and were eventually transformed. I try to observe the people of China in this historical framework from the perspective of a setting sun. Immersed in sorrow, I try to construct a passage of time and express my own feelings. This approach is drawn from ‘The Sad Zither’ by Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin: Why should the zither sad have 50 strings? Each string, each strain evokes but vanished springs. Dim morning dream to be a butterfly; Amorous heart poured out in cuckoo’s cry. In moonlit pearls see tears in mermaid’s eyes; From sunburnt emerald watch vapour rise! Such feeling cannot be recalled again; It seemed long-lost even when it was felt then. I aim to demonstrate the poetry of art in historical, natural and situational contexts through synaesthesia. My practice does not aim for aesthetics — rather, using media as a carrier of aesthetics, I hope to resonate with the viewers. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Lu Hui (1851–1920), who is known as the last literati painter, presented to the famous minister Wu Dacheng a book of paintings portraying sunset and birds, which annotates Li Bai’s ‘Climb Xinping Tower’: Leaving the capital, I climb this tower. Can I return home like late autumn flower? The sky is vast, the setting sun is far; The water clear, the waves much colder are. Clouds rise above the western-mountain trees; O’er river dunes fly south-going wild geese, The boundless land outspread ‘neath gloomy skies. How gloomy I feel while I stretch my eyes! In the 1940s, Japan was defeated in the war. When evacuating and sailing across the Huangpu River, the Japanese fleet passed a fishermen’s boat in the sunset. In 1959, East German ambassador Paul Wandel photographed and documented the celebration ceremony of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as well as a family celebration on Christmas Eve in the same year. There is one particular photograph, portraying red candlelight, that catches my attention. Its caption reads: ‘Watching this play, I felt enlightened; I juxtaposed it with the painting, hoping to capture the esotericism with a profound imagery’. It feels so warm even on a dark night. Next year Wandel was transferred back home. These events are scattered on the scroll of time, intersecting with continual symbols in the historical process. Drawing a lesson from the myth of Apollo chasing Daphne, I reckon that only when the Chinese become plants rooted in the earth can they break free from the unsolvable misery resulted from modern revolutions. Hao Liang Endnotes 1 Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques , Librairie Plon, Paris, 1955. Hao Liang Born 1983, Chengdu, China Lives and works in Beijing, China