New Exhibition｜FU XIAO TONG「NUN」Opening on September 24

Fu Xiaotong's art practice has always been rooted in the generation and transformation of life energy and explores the inner nature of life. The materials and concepts applied in her works are highly open and speculative, which embody strong oriental aesthetic quality. "NUN" has been an exhibition title the artist has repeatedly been using in recent years, which in ancient times referred to living chaos, the recipient and transmitter of cosmic energy, known as "Mother Earth Goddess" in ancient Egypt, and “a woman belonging to a religious order” in modern English dictionaries. The artist believes life energy is subject to consciousness, including visible and imperceptible components. Through her works, the artist hopes to explore how consciousness leads the energy of individuals or groups to evolve in a particular direction beneath the surface of society.  

In Fu Xiaotong's view, human’s collective-consciousness is akin to a dark and enigmatic black hole. Any social culture, whether religion, philosophy, politics, or social organizations, converges into a vast "container" or "a body of life energy" by transforming human consciousness. The individual's consciousness is subject to and gradually takes root without noticing. To resist such a potential "consciousness orientation," Fu Xiaotong has been "emptying" her mind for a long time through intensive "pinpricks on paper," trying to bring her consciousness into an undifferentiated "pure" state.  

In her solo exhibition "NUN-2" in 2021, Fu Xiaotong integrated physical performance into her practice for the first time and transformed the "act" of piercing holes on paper for years into three-dimensional space through body language. This shift marked the beginning of her exploration of inner consciousness. By adopting multiple media in her artistic language and style, Fu Xiaotong explores how human beings perceive, receive and transmit information and how personal energy is summoned and hypnotized by external forces. For Fu, art creation is an act of awakening inner energy. She hopes that her consciousness will wander into the unknown and keep breaking the boundaries between body and soul, individual and group, reality and history, trying to establish some inner connection between life energy and the "mystery of the universe" beyond time and space.  

The artist further expands this theme in this exhibition by blending reality and original intention through pinpricks on paper, wet plaster, fabrics, video, and physical performance.  Born in Shanxi, China, Fu Xiaotong graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 2000 and the Experimental Art Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2013. She currently lives and works in Beijing.  

Fu Xiaotong’s recent solo exhibitions include 2022 NUN-3, Ginkgo Space, Beijing; 2022 NUN-3, Chambers Fine Art, New York; 2021 NUN-2, Chambers Fine Art & The Temple, New York, Beijing; 2020 NUN-1, Chambers Fine Art, Beijing. Fu Xiaotong's artworks are part of public institution collections, including Fidelity Art, USA; Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, USA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA; White Rabbit Art Museum, Australia; Zhejiang Art Museum, China.