Joan Cornellà: Send Yourself Nowhere but Shanghai
Spanish artist Joan Cornellà is known for his dark humor that is both entertaining and stimulating. The iconic works have earned him nearly 8 million followers on social media. With a bright and bold palette, simplistic and cheerful language of painting, Cornellà probes deeply into the contemporary society, inspiring viewers to ponder upon themselves as well as the surrounding world.
Being Joan Cornellà’s first large-scale museum solo exhibition in China, Send Yourself Nowhere But Shanghai will feature the artist’s latest works of acrylic on canvas and sculptural installations. Different from his previous works which often feature succinct and pure color blocks, the acrylic on canvases on view feature subtle and detailed delineation against the brightly colored backgrounds, laying a new milestone in his creative career.
The characters featured in Joan Cornellà’s work are reminiscent of 1950s advertising in the west and airline safety videos, in which the figures often share a generic blank smile. The fake and blank smiles are also spotted in the figures in Cornellà’s work. Through bright palette and simplistic illustration style, the artist presents scenes radiating a sense of weirdness underneath the seemingly light- heartedness and ridiculousness. The surreal and somewhat fantasy-like delineation conveys the artist’s insights and critique of humanity and the society.
Social phenomena have always remained a prominent source of inspiration for Joan Cornellà as he constantly makes commentary on latest social topics. Works on view at Send Yourself Nowhere But Shanghai are inspired by the profound and far-reaching influence of the pandemic. The outbreak of Covid-19 has made it highly difficult for many people to travel abroad. Given this situation, Cornellà decides to lead viewers to embark on a fantasy journey through his work – to send yourself nowhere. If his previous works tended to focus on the characters and their behavior, his recent works center more on travel and scenario building, which makes the delineation of the background of the works particularly important. The figures in his work show mild demeanor even in the extreme conditions; and against the bizarre backdrops, their simplistic body language further highlights the unusually strong contrast between reality and fantasy.
Nara Huang
霍安·科内拉:无人之境
蜚声国际的艺术家霍安·科内拉的作品通常充满了让人不安却又忍俊不禁的黑色幽默。通过极 具辨识度的作品，科内拉在社交媒体平台拥有近800万粉丝追随。他擅⻓以明亮大胆的颜 色、简洁而充满娱乐性的绘画⻛格去探索当下社会问题，引发观看者对自身以及周遭事物的 思考。“无人之境”作为霍安·科内拉首次在国内大型美术馆举办的个展，将展出艺术家在疫情 席卷全球的背景下全新创作的亚克力帆布绘画以及雕塑装置作品。与以往不同的是，在此次 展出的亚克力帆布作品中，艺术家一改往日用纯色色块作背景的简洁⻛格，在色彩鲜艳的画 作上描绘出细腻的背景细节，奠定其创作生涯中的一大重要里程碑。
霍安·科内拉作品中独特的人物⻛格深受⻄方1950年代的广告和⻜机安全演示视频影响。这些 媒介中人物的脸上都挂着整⻬划一的虚假微笑，而艺术家作品中的人物也都以刻意而苍白的 笑容去面对生活。艺术家运用明亮的色彩和简练的插图视觉语言，描绘着貌似轻松可笑的怪 异场景。尽管他所描绘的一切都几近夸张，而且常常不切实际，却传达出对人性和现实社会 的批判。
社会现象一直是霍安·科内拉创作的主要灵感来源，他的作品中总是蕴含了时下的热点话题。 本次展览“无人之境” 将展出的就是艺术家深刻体验到了疫情对人类的影响而创作出的作品。 因为疫情，许多人出国旅行的愿望化为泡影。面对这个困扰，科内拉决意透过创作引领观众 进行一次幻想中的旅行，探索他构想之下的无人之境。艺术家以往的⻛格以突出人物及其行 为为主，而本次展出的绘画作品有关旅行和情境。因此系列中画作背景的刻画显得尤为重 要，艺术家作品中的人物在极端环境下仍安之若素，简单的肢体语言在光怪陆离的背景的衬 托下，更突显出现实与幻想之间不寻常的强烈反差。