“The action-image then tended to shatter, whilst the determinate locations were blurred, letting any-spaces-whatever rise up where the modern affects of fear, detachment, but also freshness, extreme speed and interminable waiting were developing.”
Dec 14 – Jan 27, 2024
弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share
Hou Zichao
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 酒家举水 Drinking house lift up, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in /165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 酒家举水 Drinking house lift up, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in /165 × 150 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 星书 Star Book, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Hou Zichao, 星书 Star Book, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 发光自然光 Daylight shine sun, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 发光自然光 Daylight shine sun, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 赛果 Racing fruits, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 赛果 Racing fruits, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 林道 Wood Path, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Hou Zichao, 林道 Wood Path, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 乐路 Pure way fun, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 乐路 Pure way fun, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 驰骋智慧尽头 Gallop wisdom end, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 驰骋智慧尽头 Gallop wisdom end, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 极泉见面礼 Extreme spring greeting, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 59 × 47 1/4 in / 150 × 120 cm
Hou Zichao, 极泉见面礼 Extreme spring greeting, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 59 × 47 1/4 in / 150 × 120 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 夜满子悬挂 Night fully seeds hang, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 夜满子悬挂 Night fully seeds hang, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 长影 Long Shadow, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Hou Zichao, 长影 Long Shadow, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 桑拿歌唱家 Sauna Sing Song Town, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Hou Zichao, 桑拿歌唱家 Sauna Sing Song Town, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 小组展示 Team Show, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Hou Zichao, 小组展示 Team Show, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 黑地熟汁陷阱 Nightfall ripe juicy trap, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 黑地熟汁陷阱 Nightfall ripe juicy trap, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 65 × 59 in / 165 × 150 cm
Hou Zichao, 晚炉看护怀里 Heating nursing nightly, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 59 × 47 1/4 in / 150 × 120 cm
Hou Zichao, 晚炉看护怀里 Heating nursing nightly, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 59 × 47 1/4 in / 150 × 120 cm
Hou Zichao, 散木取果 Pluck Fruit off Loose Wood, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Hou Zichao, 散木取果 Pluck Fruit off Loose Wood, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Hou Zichao, 巨枝 Giant branch, 2023. Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Hou Zichao, 巨枝 Giant branch, 2023 (detail). Acrylic on linen, 31 1/2 × 23 1/2 in / 80 × 60 cm
Exhibition view of 弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.
Press Release
– Gilles Deleuze, “Cinema 1: The Movement-Image,” p. 121
Cycling through the disparate landscapes of Southeast Asia and the Middle East, from the desert to the woods, and then back: layers accumulate like sediment, loosely cohering a collection of dissimilar fragments – gestures, dispositions, affects. The landscape is refracted. Together, these fragments form a visual travelogue relinquishing “the old realism of places,” as Deleuze once wrote. He was referring to cinema, but, of course, we are speaking here of painting, a form of painting that revels in the potentialities of medialization.
Each canvas in Fallen lush racing share the date palm tree as its central motif, which grounds the work itself just as it does the landscapes Hou attempts to capture back in the studio, through a combination of memory and source video. Here, the date palm is both general and delectably specific, a sort of maypole around which much may be bandied about: blot-like daubs of citrus that levitate before us, jagged applications of flat color, abstract brushwork, alongside other ecstatic gestures. Angular lines of International Klein Blue dart across certain compositions, drawn from a Taipei road guide, signaling a distinctive collapse between the moment itself and its later recollection. The mediation of sensory experience Hou has cultivated in the past reaches a pinnacle here – the choppiness of a video stream locates its correspondence in the imperfection of memory. Yet Hou’s is not a binary operation, confined only to these perceptions. It is as if this experiential data he mines is then inscribed back into the historical specificity of painting: a propensity toward flatness and layering derived from Les Nabis, for instance, while an identification with brushwork (indeed, Hou constructs his own devices) emerges from the long tradition of Chinese landscape painting.
Hou Zichao (b. 1988, Shanxi, China) lives and works in Beijing, China. The artist completed his BA (Hons.) degree from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London, in 2013, and earned his MFA from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, in 2014. Solo exhibitions include: “弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2023); "Practice Land,” Cans Project, Taipei (2023); “Child in the Woods,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing, CN (2022); “Everlasting,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2021); “No Time for Romance,” Mine Project, Hong Kong, HK (2020); “Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines,” Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, CN (2019); “FOUNTAIN,”AOMA, YT Creative Media, Beijing, CN (2018); “Ray. Stone. Wave,” Aura.a Gallery, Shanghai, CN (2017). Hou Zichao’s works and projects have been presented in group exhibitions including: “Crossing Frontiers”, Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv-Yafo, IL (2023); “The Disconnected Generation,” Song Art Museum, Beijing, CN (2022); “In Defense of Secrets,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2022); “CLEAN,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing, CN (2020); “Variant,” Bin Art Center, Hangzhou, CN (2019); “LOVE LOVE LOVE: Intimate,” Today Art Museum, Beijing, CN (2018); “Elite Young Artists Program,” Rightview Art Museum & Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Beijing & Shenzhen, CN (2016).
Hou Zichao (b. 1988, Shanxi, China) lives and works in Beijing, China. The artist completed his BA (Hons.) degree from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London, in 2013, and earned his MFA from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, in 2014. Solo exhibitions include: “弗洛塞芬 Fallen lush racing share,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2023); Practice Land”, Cans Project, Taipei (2023); “Child in the Woods,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing, CN (2022); “Everlasting,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2021); “No Time for Romance,” Mine Project, Hong Kong, HK (2020); “Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines,” Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, CN (2019); “FOUNTAIN,” AOMA, YT Creative Media, Beijing, CN (2018); “Ray. Stone. Wave,” Aura.a Gallery, Shanghai, CN (2017). Hou Zichao’s works and projects have been presented in group exhibitions including: “Crossing Frontiers”, Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv-Yafo, IL (2023); “The Disconnected Generation,” Song Art Museum, Beijing, CN (2022); “In Defense of Secrets,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2022); “CLEAN,” SPURS Gallery, Beijing, CN (2020); “Variant,” Bin Art Center, Hangzhou, CN (2019); “LOVE LOVE LOVE: Intimate,” Today Art Museum, Beijing, CN (2018); “Elite Young Artists Program,” Rightview Art Museum & Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Beijing & Shenzhen, CN (2016).