Art Basel OVR:2021 : Scene of Humanity: Marina CRUZ, Rao FU, Lee YANG

10 - 12 February 2022 

Scene of Humanity dwells in the paintings of Marina CRUZ, Rao FU, and YANG Lee. This commonality serves as the artistic expressions of these three artists who render by attending to the daily life and objects. Their works allow viewers to resonate with preserved objects and family memory, a cross-cultural reflection of mixed mythology and epics, and the everyday of contemporary life. The narratives and interpretations of objects and scenery emanate the artistic awareness of humanity and life.

Marina CRUZ recurrently paints the clothes passed on from her maternal family. In between figurative and abstract compositions, she represents the existing moments in the past and then further solidifies the loving memories in her family stories. Those clothes designed and made by CRUZ’s maternal grandmother were reborn on CRUZ’s canvas works after in storage for a half-century. She converts the vanishing objects in time into artworks that will be permanently well preserved.

Rao FU, a Dresden-based artist of Chinese origin constantly explores the possibilities of mixing and transcending the differences within diverse languages and cultures. His paintings imbued the practice with German Expressionism and traditional Chinese painting philosophy revolve around the appropriation of mythological and historical subject matters. By swinging between inheritance and new creations, he has built a unique system and created paintings filled with epic settings and contemporary sentiments, beyond the times, and the concept of the East and the West.

Lee YANG born after the 1990s, on the other hand, paints vibrant and energetic palettes with his airbrush and paintbrush and creates a series of unique sceneries based on everyday views. The pop style and composition speak for the young artist with a rather refreshing vibe and artistic language. 

The three artists from different regions and generations have together woven an expanding net of life in the world of art, respectively by the family objects and memory clips, cross-cultural experience and mediations, and repeated surveys of the everyday scenes. They walk us into independent chapters abundant in life stories and personal adventures. 

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