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Artist: Gao Hang

“The surface of the airbrush painting seems to be the closest one I could find. It is smooth, the smoothest, blurry, the blurriest, yet has the highest definition on its surface all at the same time.” – Gao Hang, 2021

PULPO GALLERY presents Gao Hang’s solo exhibition My Bad Ideas.

The exhibition Gao Hang – My Bad Ideas features the most recent works by the Houston-based painter and visual artist. After numerous exhibitions across the US and Europe, Hang’s works are being shown in a solo exhibition in Germany for the first time.

Hang belongs to a generation that grew up in the computer age and is naturally familiar with the internet. For millennials, the extended use of social media is part of everyday life and can become increasingly time-consuming. With his smartly chosen snapshots, Gao documents his attitude towards the digital world and his own mind journey from the struggle of endless screentime to the fight against it. A tendency that most people can relate to very well.

Hang’s work titles are hidden references, and the viewer might recognize hints to stand-up comedy quotes or viral trends. Without knowing the titles, the works could depict specially selected objects and places or portray a particular person. On the other hand, they could also be anything or anyone. A favorite star or any person from social media; the currently most popular video game or all games of the era in one; an excerpt from the most recent invention or the influence of all the technological development surrounding us. The generalized irony only gets visible through the title provided by the artist.

Sourcing from his diverse experiences ranging from an artistic training in China in traditional oil painting to experiments with a variety of art techniques in the US, Hang developed his own pictorial language using airbrush as a medium. He refers to the smoothness of the surface altered by filters and questions the urge for technical development and the ever-improving high definition in the digital world. His self-described ‘bad ideas’ take a deeper look at the phenomenon of social media, explore the dynamics of our era, and document the current zeitgeist, while intentionally leaving the development of ‘smart ideas’ to the viewer. The interpretation of the depicted time capsules is therefore individually different, and the works unfold through the viewer’s eyes.

Bright neon colors, blurred surfaces, and straightforward references – in the heyday of social media and internet perfection, Hang’s mesmerizing paintings hit the zeitgeist in a humorous yet brutally honest and eye-opening way.

Gao Hang was born 1991 in Baoding, China and now lives and works in Houston, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree from Capital Normal University, China, and his master’s degree from Houston University, US. He recently exhibited at L21 Gallery (Palma, Spain), The Hole (NY, US), Breach Gallery (Miami, US), Waluso Gallery (London, UK) and COVA Gallery (Eindhoven, Netherlands). His works have been collected by the CICA Museum of Art, Gyeonggi-do (Korea), the Lawndale Art Center (Houston, US), the Art Museum of Capital Normal University (Beijing, China) and the Chinese Quintessence Arts Museum (Beijing, China).