Gordon Cheung

A GATEWAY TO POSSIBLE WORLDS Art & science-fiction Nov 05, 2022 - Apr 10, 2023 CURATED BY Alexandra Müller, research assistant and curator at Centre Pompidou-Metz The American writer Ray Bradbury said: "Science fiction is the art of the possible." Under the guise of anticipating the future, it speaks to us of the present. It is a laboratory of hypotheses that manipulate and extrapolate the repressive norms and dogmas of today's world, its ambitions, social afflictions, opportunities and perils. A Gateway To Possible Worlds exhibition brings together over 200 works from the late 1960s to the present day. Art & science fiction whisks visitors away to a 2300m² sci-fi world. It puts the spotlight on the bonds between imaginary worlds and our reality with the help of artists, authors, architects and film directors. It builds on current demands for 21st century utopias to spark debate, inspiration and a form of hope. #GordonCheung #pompidoumetz (at Centre Pompidou-Metz) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmcI7S4Iiz-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Masterplan, 2008 (Financial newspaper, acrylic gel and archival inkjet on canvas (112.5 x 220 cm, 44 1/2 x 86 1/2 in), a painting from the collection of CJ Follini and Andrea Pemberton made it all the way from New York to France for ‘A Gateway to Possible Worlds’ (Les Portes Du Possible) group exhibition at Centre Pompidou-Metz, on view until April 10, 2023, curated by Alexandra Müller 🧬 #GordonCheung #pompidoumetz (at Centre Pompidou-Metz) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClV2J3AIVQs/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Masterplan, 2008 (Financial newspaper, acrylic gel and archival inkjet on canvas (112.5 x 220 cm, 44 1/2 x 86 1/2 in), a painting from the collection of CJ Follini and Andrea Pemberton made it all the way from New York to France for ‘A Gateway to Possible Worlds’ (Les Portes Du Possible) group exhibition at Centre Pompidou-Metz, on view until April 10, 2023, curated by Alexandra Müller (at Centre Pompidou-Metz) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClV1nXnIv0u/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

‘Augury of Shanghai’ showing with @alminerech @art021_sh (@art021_shanghai), Shanghai, Nov 2022 🙂 #GordonCheung #alminerechgallery #art021 #art021shanghai #art021shanghaicontemporaryartfair (at ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck530UVoQ6J/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Happy Moon Festival! Wishing you all lots of moon cakes! ❤️ - Watch this space about where these bamboo and financial newspaper moon windows are going ☺️ https://www.instagram.com/p/CiVWY_yIB3j/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

@AlmineRech showing @friezeofficial art fair Seoul, Korea, detail of new #GordonCheung painting ‘Timeless Sands’, 2022 / 135x100cm 🌞 #Frieze #FriezeArtFair #Seoul #AlmineRech #AlmineRechGallery #Art #Painting (at Frieze Art Fair) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiCMvIkIOAp/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

@AlmineRech showing @friezeofficial art fair Seoul, Korea, detail of new #GordonCheung painting ‘Timeless Sands’, 2022 / 135x100cm 🌞 #Frieze #FriezeArtFair #Seoul #AlmineRech #AlmineRechGallery #Art #Painting (at Frieze Art Fair) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiAGmffM37g/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

@AlmineRech showing @friezeofficial art fair Seoul, Korea, detail of new #GordonCheung painting ‘Timeless Sands’, 2022 / 135x100cm 🌞 #Frieze #FriezeArtFair #Seoul #AlmineRech #AlmineRechGallery #Art #Painting #FriezeArtFairSeoul (at Frieze Art Fair) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch-JfILscmq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

@AlmineRech showing @friezeofficial art fair Seoul, Korea, detail of new #GordonCheung painting ‘Timeless Sands’, 2022 / 135x100cm 🌞 #Frieze #FriezeArtFair #Seoul #AlmineRech #AlmineRechGallery #Art #Painting (at Frieze Art Fair) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch9dNWksBS1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

@AlmineRech showing @friezeofficial art fair Seoul, Korea, new #GordonCheung painting ‘Timeless Sands’, 2022 / 135x100cm 🌞 #Frieze #FriezeArtFair #Seoul #AlmineRech #AlmineRechGallery #Art #Painting (at Frieze Art Fair) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch2RkDkI4q-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Artnet auctions: https://www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/gordon-cheung/tulipmania-1-12 Tulipmania 1-12, 2012 Archival inkjet prints with satin, UV glazes and hand-painting in acrylic on Somerset Satin paper Image: 20 x 15.98 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm.) each Sheet: 24.41 x 19.92 in. (62 x 50.6 cm.) each Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil (each) Artist's Proofs 3/5 aside from edition of 20 Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, pub. Lot ID 137661 #Tulipmania #GordonCheung #EditionedPrints #Cristearobertsgallery https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch0a3TQsmxj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

‘Fear and Greed’ boxed set of 10 augmented reality prints with @smartstamp_com AI and Blockchain authentication (DM for details) ⚡️ ‘Fear and Greed’ references a stock market index term that quantifies what it believes to be the two main emotions that drive the market. The portfolio explores histories that span over 380 years with the first recorded market bubble and crash called “Tulipomania” that marked the birth of global modern capitalism to today’s mass adoption of blockchain technology epitomised by Bitcoin as a pillar of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
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Bitcoin was conceptualized after the 2008 financial crisis when the US government printed trillions of dollars in an attempt to resuscitate the economy. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the global recession into what could be a depression, spurring centralised bankers to print money into the trillions, creating a fear of hyperinflation, diluting purchasing power, and leading to an exodus of dollars into other assets — such as Bitcoin. Blockchain, a decentralised ledger system, is what underpins the existence of cryptocurrency, making it near impossible to counterfeit, thus ensuring a highly reliable system of authenticity. In 2021, the traditional financial institutions ‘panic bought’ into Bitcoin, signalling a monetary revolution as they respond to a potential collapse of the dollar and its status as the world reserve currency.
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In an increasingly digital age that reconfigures our perceptions of reality into a state of constant flux, Cheung is compelled to bear witness to historic and revolutionary moments of humanity. Interwoven within these historical timelines and technological processes are the human conditions of what it means to exist within these cycles of histories to meditate on the past, present, and futures about who we are and what we can become.
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Animated via the Gordon Cheung Studios AR app.
🚀 #Bitcoin #Crypto #blockchain #SatoshiNakomoto #glitch #glitchart #GordonCheung #Tulipmania #GordonCheung https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch0O---M3dy/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

‘Arrow to Heaven’, Gordon Cheung solo show @alminerech, Paris, Matignon - ends 30 July ‘Gardens of Perfect Brightness’ The Old Summer Palace of Beijing, China otherwise known as Yuanmingyuan Park is literally translated as the ‘Gardens of Perfect Brightness’. It was the main imperial residence of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors. Considered to be the pinnacle of imperial gardens and palace design it was reputed as the ‘Garden of Gardens’. During the second Opium war French and British captured the palace on 6 October 1960 and took days to loot followed by around 4000 troops to burn down 3.5km (860 acres) over a 3 day period. It is estimated by UNESCO that 47 museums around the world contain Summer Palace loot. The blazing ambiguous sunset or sunrise colour palette refers to the days of burning subverting the notion of Gardens of Brightness. The two holy mountains of Sinai and Song appear like wings of the still life or could be viewed as a collision that forms the broken grounds like a fractured pillar for the still life to sit upon. The painting's foreground is a map of the Summer palace that appears to be part of a broken fragment of a larger whole accentuated by the ruin of Dashuifa. Surreal in scale the ‘Mille Fleurs’ Qianlong Emperor vase contains flowers from a Dutch Golden Age still life in reference to what is considered to be the birth of Modern Capitalism and the first recorded economic bubble with Tulipmania. It also contains flowers from Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit missionary who became a painter at the court of the emperor. The rest of the composition is filled with sunflowers made from painted marks on plastic that are peeled and assembled together before being collaged to the surface of the painting. Sunflowers are used as a symbol to face the sun/god, here they are multi-directional but seem to be mostly facing toward the viewer. #GordonCheung #AlmineRech (at Almine Rech Paris Matignon) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cggst3UMKku/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

‘Arrow to Heaven’ Gordon Cheung solo show @alminerech, Paris Matignon until 30 July ‘Arrow to Heaven’, 150x200cm - the depiction of the boat is based on what was thought to be the type that was in 1856 boarded by the Chinese officials under suspicion that it was an Opium pirate ship. British registered meant that when allegedly the flag was lowered resulted in the British using it as an excuse to wage the 2nd Opium war with the French who used the excuse of an executed missionary illegally preaching in Guizhou province. Canton (Guangzhou) was bombarded by warships followed by heading to Tianjin to force negotiations and the signing of treaties. When they weren’t ratified the Anglo-French forces captured Beijing and took days to loot Yuanming Gardens, the emperor’s summer palace before burning it down. Using an ‘aurora’ colour palette to suggest a cosmic collision against the Earth’s protective shield there are the 2 holy mountains of Sinai and Song to symbolise the Western colonial powers and the Chinese empire; mountains being symbolic bridges between Earth and Heaven. The 2 here colliding like mythical giants underneath of which there is Canton and Guizhou. In the distance is a constellation like map of the Belt and Road; the largest human project in history otherwise known as the new silk and maritime roads to connect over 170 nations with mutual trade. Tianjin city is literally translated as heaven’s boundary hence one of the reasons for the title painting of the show: Arrow to Heaven. A subversion of a direction to paradise and the afterlife, mapping out how powerful unifying narratives such as nationhood, mythologies and religion can be wielded for conquest. #gordoncheung #alminerechgallery (at Almine Rech Paris Matignon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgfD9dRIH34/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

‘Arrow to Heaven’ Gordon Cheung solo show @AlmineRech until 30 July ‘Heavens’ Collide’ is a multi-media painting that uses a French 1830s map combined with a map of the Qing dynasty internal rebellions and the invasion routes of colonial powers into 1850s China. Although one of many, the Taiping Rebellion, led by a man who believed himself to be the brother to Christ formed in South China the Heavenly kingdom that resulted in one of the bloodiest civil wars in history with more casualties than the world wars. It was this background of a decadent and corrupt Chinese empire drained of resources that colonial powers invaded and ‘carved’ up China for the spoils of war as well as the over 100 years of unfair treaties. The multi-media painting of acrylic, sand and newspaper weaves together narratives from the 1850s to the modern day Belt and Road initiative that connects over 170 nations for mutual trade. It’s ambiguous dawn, dusk, Martian or perhaps nuclear colour palette creates a subverted sci-fi play on the Thomas Moore maps of Utopia. Here they have dark undertones like a heat map of rebellions and invasions marked within the sandy textures that have been spray painted from various directions to create an iridescent moonscape; a floating tectonic plate adrift in a world as it teetered on fracturing apart. #GordonCheung #AlmineRech (at Almine Rech Paris Matignon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgeGnMrMLhi/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Last week of my solo show @AlmineRech, Paris Matignon ‘Heavenly Lake’ is on top of a dormant volcano that for the Manchu Dynasty is the source of their origin myth. The waterfall is also from the Changbai Mountains where the lake is. Compressed by 2 holy mountains of Sinai and Song. One symbolising the Western divine right and the other used by China’s emperor to validate their mandate from heaven. Mountains represent the bridge between Earth and Heaven. Tianjin is the cityscape below that literally translated means Heaven’s boundary. It is also the city where the unfair treaties were signed after the Anglo-Franco 2nd Opium war was won from which an already weakened Qing Dynasty Empire established by the Manchus was to collapse. #GordonCheung #AlmineRech (at Almine Rech Paris Matignon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgcmA1QMmGJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Almine Rech is pleased to present 'Arrow to Heaven', the first solo exhibition by artist Gordon Cheung featuring new works on view from June 28 to July 30, 2022. Cheung’s first solo at Almine Rech takes as its historical marker, the Second Opium War, which lasted from 1856-1860. It consists of a number of new paintings and sculptures which further explores his interest in understanding the development of Modern China and continues his interests in revealing these lesser known histories of China and its invasion by the West. The heaven in the title refers to the city of Tianjian, which is translated as Heaven’s boundary or Ford and was the location where the Treaty of Tianjian was signed signalling the end of the Second Opium War. The show is a study of confluences, a look at an intertwined history between two largely contrasting cultures, religions and philosophies at a historical juncture of huge acceleration on one side, charging headlong into Modernism. Cheung’s paintings are a multi-layered account of human activity and history and his interest stems from his upbringing as a British born Chinese and his desire to understand his own roots. His work speaks to a wide range of influences, from romanticists such as Caspar David Friedrich to sculptures influenced by Chinese Window designs. However, Cheung’s paintings are anything but polite, the acidic colour palettes (somewhat reminiscent of the swirling pyrotechnical allegories of the Victorian painter John Martin) suggest chemical interactions of a world ravaged by human industry, perhaps even on the brink of anthropogenic chaos or the aftermath of a nuclear war. — Sunny Cheung, Curator of M+, Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong (at Almine Rech Paris Matignon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfpAE09ITFn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=