This June, Onfinitive Project proudly announces their return pop-up “Spherical Moments” in Singapore after its successful debut exhibition “Neo Japan: Pop Art Explored” last July at Artspace@ Helutrans. This exhibition will showcase over 10 new works by Beijing-born artist Liu Bin and Chicago-born artist Jordan Kasey, where this project is considered to be their debut exhibition in Singapore.
Elvina Chan, curator for the exhibition explains, “In this project, one is a Chinese male artist the other is a female American artist, their backgrounds and experiences growing up could not be more different, yet I find striking similarities in their artistic language. I hope for this exhibition, we can all take a pause in our busy schedules and appreciate both artists’ work and through their magical imageries we allow ourselves to get lost in an imaginative world.”
Take for example how Liu creates a Pinocchio figure, or how Jordan creates all these colourful round figures that are not ordinary ‘people’, both of which encapsulate the idea of figures that are out of the ordinary or just out of reach of reality. This idea of capturing moments or “pauses” in daily life, whether it’s sketches from photographic imagery or collecting ideas and memories. The metaphor of a sphere appears to be a prism where real-life occurrences are manifested in their minds, we see an expression of imaginary otherworldly landscapes and scenes.
Liu Bin was raised in a military base in the outskirts of Northern China and grew up watching his father’s military colleagues paint socialist realist posters. After moving to Beijing in 1998, Liu came of age and completed university concurrent to a dramatic decade of explosive economic growth. He graduated from the Visual Communications & Design Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing in 2002 and has since worked as a graphic designer while simultaneously pursuing the path of an independent artist. For his individual practice, Liu has always remained loyal to oil painting. The absurdist, nihilistic strand of his philosophy manifests in strange, resplendently hued universes situated anywhere between sublimity or abjection. Delving into the subterraneous archives of history and humanity, Liu tackles the contradictions of human nature, creating canvases charged with the simultaneous terror and beauty of human potential
Meanwhile, everyday life takes on a monumental feel in Jordan Kasey’s large-scale oil paintings. Her voluptuous, anonymous figures engage in mundane activities, enjoy quiet moments of calm and dissolve into one with their surroundings. As the artist explains, “We are porous, breathing, absorbent; my work deals with what this implies regarding our interactions with elements of landscape and other people.” Kasey sets out from rough sketch work, allowing her images to gradually develop on canvas. Avoiding portraiture or narrative, she confronts the viewer with characters devoid of identity, gender or skin texture, bringing subtle yet shared human experiences under the microscope.
“I’m excited to present this exhibition in Singapore this summer. Each of the artists Liu Bin and Jordan Kasey have a strong distinctive visual language. I am very drawn to their works and I am curious to see how art collectors in this region respond to their work,“ shared Chloe Chiu, founder of Onfinitive Project.
Photo Credit: Benjamin Tan
Spherical Moments runs till 1st July 2024 at Artspace@Helutrans. More information available here
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