Hong Kong / Beijing / Scottsdale
DE SARTHE is pleased to present System Update, a group exhibition featuring the works of Lin Jingjing, Mak2, Caison Wang, Wang Xin, and Zhong Wei.
Illusionary Charms, 2023
Sold
Home Sweet Home: Away in Manger 1, 2023
Happy Birthday #006, 2023
5,000 USD
Happy Birthday #007, 2023
Wawa & Kaka - Symphony, 2023
12,000 USD
Wawa & Kaka - Gold Pond, 2023
The Labyrinth of Mandala, 2023
15,000 USD
The Interwoven, the Possible, and the Unveiling, 2023
10,000 USD
The presentation is a contemporary dialogue between artists that contemplate the prevailing as well as hypothetical capabilities of human being versus technology, and how it has affected the existing structures and systems of society, spirituality, and humanity at large.New York-based artist Lin Jingjing (b. 1970) imagines a future in which love as well as other emotions can be fabricated via technological or medicinal means. As technological advancement continues unabated under the guise of efficiency, the complexity of human relationships remains a trouble for many. Comprising a body of works on canvas and video artworks, Lin's newly created series "Everything is Unreal Until it is Not" visualises a world in which all aspects of humanity can be replicated via the aid of new technology. Depicting prescription drugs for emotional intimacy and eerily beautiful people generated by AI, Lin's portrayal of the future is both fantastical and dystopic.Hong Kong-based artist Mak2 (b. 1989) will showcase new works from her iconic "Home Sweet Home" series, which are triptychs on canvas composed using 'The Sims' and materialized via different painters hired from the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao. Within the 'The Sims,' the artist constructs bizarre narratives using a combination of game elements modelled after real life objects and imagines a world unrestrained by the limitations of reality. As her digital fantasies are translated into painting through the hands of others, the final result invariably differs, elucidating the inevitable disparity and fantasy, as well as the systems through which vision is relinquished and filtered in the process of actualisation.Shanghai-based artist Caison Wang (b. 1991) dissects the philosophical constructs of faith and religion under the context of humanity's acquired abilities in the technological era. Traversing the virtual and physical in her practice, Wang explores humanity's new-found omniscience and omnipotence via the creation of digital worlds using 3-D modelling software. Alluding to a God-like role, the artist contemplates the secular nature of technology and its influence on our growing anthropocentrism. Fusing religious motifs with futuristic imagery, Wang attempts to elucidate the similarities between spiritual doctrines and other artificial constructs invented by human beings.Shanghai-based artist Wang Xin (b. 1985) will present two new interactive artworks that combine the spiritual and technological, taking the notion of transhumanism and applying it onto acts of improving mental well-being. Meditation is an exercise invented and exclusive to humanity across all living and artificial beings. Guided by an AI instructor, viewers can execute a series of meditative activities in interaction with different components of the artworks. From crafting invisible mandalas to practicing passive observation, the artworks not only amalgamate mechanic accuracy with organic thinking but forms a physical space in which the two vastly different concepts can manifest in co-existence.Under the brush of Beijing-based artist Zhong Wei (b. 1987), the Internet is a living entity that learns, grows, and reproduces. The artist constructs organic, anthropomorphic, even monstrous amalgamations using recognisably digital elements such as codes, memes, and emoticons. His immensely vibrant and accumulative imagery references the pandemonic and perpetually evolving landscape of the online world. Within his works on canvas exist a tension between the structures built by man and the untameable creature it subsequently created. As technology becomes increasingly automated, Zhong elucidates the fact that humanity has entered into a race for advancement with its own invention.