Duyi Han: Visions of Bloom

韩笃一：琳琅

Solo exhibition, 08 Nov 2024–25 Jan 2025, Suhe Haus 苏河皓司, Shanghai

Produced by: CHERUBY 樱桃瑚. Curated by: Claire Shiying Li 李石影. Art gallery support: BANK.

Artist-designer Duyi Han’s practice is inspired by scenography and other forms of art that are often employed in avant-garde fashion campaigns. His first solo show in China “Visions of Bloom” explores the possibilities of openness in classical Chinese aesthetic systems. This experience combines Han’s full range of endeavors in art and design, bringing together 3D animation, vinyled walls, floor and ceiling covers, embroidered furniture, embroidery on silk, and digital renderings printed on paper in Suhe Haus’ 106 square-meter staircase-hallway space. “Visions of Bloom” is a treasure gallery breathing scholarly connoisseurship and cutting-edge biological illustrations that celebrate the splendor of life.

Duyi Han’s interest in the evolution of art and architectural history, coincidental resonances across cultures, complex systems, biology and Neuroesthetics are felt through the scenic installation. For the all-encompassing Hundred Antiques style vinyled covers, Han incorporates decorative traditions from East and West and alludes to the maximalism praised by Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty. He then infuses the domestication of nature and objective formalism embodied by scholarly stones in the gardens of the Jiangnan region. In the center, Han shuffles protein molecular models from an RCSB Protein Data Bank in an indexical matrix. He designs trompe-l’œil images reminiscent of traditional Chinese antiques at the bottom, grottesche decorations from the Domus Aurea and Renaissance murals on the frieze. The artist formulates bizarre and adorable grotesques from the west which resemble the tendency of overgrowth in scholar’s taste from the east with protein molecules, a foundation of all forms of life. The filing and compiling of data, as well as sampling of both natural objects and artifacts, allude to a universal truth in aesthetics and general laws in creation.

The curtains and embroidered bench set up a delicate and refined atmosphere, guiding the viewer towards the central animation piece Visions of Bloom. This “timepiece”, framed by a moon gate, emulsifies a subconscious desire for mysticism and romance, teasing out the lurking rhizomes in worlds of multitude and a taoist philosophy of constant change. Immersed in the adaptation of Erik Satie’s composition, the exhibition invites a meditative moment among rays of cosmic warmth. Duyi Han situates a liberal transference across time and space, searching for a higher awareness and cultural prosperity in the microcosm and macrocosm.