Vacation II at Gallery Vacancy

Artists: Richard Burton, Henry Curchod, Ariane Heloise Hughes, Pieter Jennes, Rao Weiyi, Charline Tyberghein

Exhibition title: Vacation II

Venue: Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai, China

Date: August 27 – October 1, 2022

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Gallery Vacancy

Gallery Vacancy is pleased to announce group exhibition Vacation II, on view from August 27 to October 1, 2022, featuring works by artists Richard Burton (b. 1984), Henry Curchod (b. 1992), Ariane Heloise Hughes (b. 1997), Pieter Jennes (b. 1990), Rao Weiyi (b. 1993), and Charline Tyberghein (b. 1993). “Vacation” is a recurring summer group exhibition series inaugurated in 2021, showcasing works that examine the infinite potentials of interpreting the present reality. Transforming the gallery space into a liminal zone where norms and orders are temporarily suspended, the exhibition seeks to provide distinctive experiences by accentuating the essential components of change in space and time.

Vacation II brings forth a group of representational paintings that employ various approaches to dissect the daily realities of our lives. The works of Curchod and Jennes often situate viewers in snapshots of an ongoing storyline. In I’d Like to Do Something Nice for Everybody, but I’m Sure I’ll Regret It (2022), Jennes depicts a precarious moment of a person tiptoeing on the roof to flee from the attack of a flock of birds, provoking a comical ambience through the figure’s wobbly state. The intensity of emotion and action manifests in a more subtle form on Curchod’s canvas. In Versus Bank Manager (2022), the artist portrays an intriguing combination of disparate perspectives to heighten the theatrical tension, introduced through fluid brushwork and sparsely filled color. Curchod’s painting evokes a distant and dreamlike sensibility, slowly unfolding the visual narratives.

Meanwhile, Burton and Rao move beyond physical reality in their paintings. Burton’s subject matter constantly dwells on the in-transit space, transforming the banality into a fantastical locale. In Thermo Static (2021), the artist depicts the rearview of transportation seating rendered in quasi sci-fi aesthetics yet revealing minimal clues of its setting. The tampering with imagination and reality is also pronounced in Rao’s works, incorporating visual elements of Post-Internet onto the canvas. Rao compresses layers of digital imaging in Glasses for Nobita (2022), revealing the characteristics of image-making in our current time through his physical representation of screen-lit light sources, bokeh subjects, and the overlaid collage elements.

Hughes and Tyberghein illustrate the Surrealist paths of tapping into the zone of liminality. Hughes’s Watch & Learn (2022) associates images of an eye and a tentacle, pivoting the psychological effect of intricacy, sensuality, and absurdity. Tyberghein’s disruption of rationality reveals through her painterly manipulation of cognitive perception. The Devil that I Revel In (2022) masks a myriad of intriguing visual clues underneath the clarity and simplicity of the check pattern, perplexing viewers with an extraordinary trompe l’oeil effect while inserting an unmistakable sense of wittiness.

Vacation II, 2022, exhibition view, Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai

Henry Curchod, Green Out in the Co Op, 2022, Oil and charcoal on linen, 102 × 122 cm (40 1/8 x 48 in)

Henry Curchod, Autumn Walkers, 2022, Oil and charcoal on linen, 92 × 117 cm (36 1/4 x 46 in)

Henry Curchod, Versus Bank Manager, 2022, Oil and charcoal on linen, 198.5 × 167.5 cm (78 1/8 x 66 in)

Henry Curchod, A Conservative Hierarchal Type Walks into A Bar, 2022, Oil and charcoal on linen, 91.5 × 105.5 cm (36 x 41 1/2 in)

Pieter Jennes, I’d Like to Do Something Nice for Everybody, but I’m Sure I’ll Regret It, 2022 Oil on canvas, mirrors, 152.5 × 172.5 cm (60 x 67 7/8 in)

Charline Tyberghein, The Devil that I Revel In, 2022, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 160 × 180 cm (63 x 70 7/8 in)

Charline Tyberghein, Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be, 2022, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 180 × 160 cm (70 7/8 x 63 in)

Charline Tyberghein, Remnants of a Small Party, 2022, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 180 × 160 cm (70 7/8 x 63 in)

Richard Burton, Thermo Static, 2021, Oil on linen, 36 × 40 cm (14 1/8 × 15 3/4 in)

Richard Burton, Anamnesis, 2022, Distemper and oil on linen, 35 × 40 cm (13 3/4 × 15 3/4 in)

Richard Burton, Torque, 2022, Oil on canvas, 50 × 45 cm (19 3/4 × 17 3/4 in)

Richard Burton, No Way Out, 2022, Oil and sand on linen, 130 × 150 cm (51 1/8 × 59 in)

Rao Weiyi, Captain Pentacle, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, sand, 180 x 140 cm (70 7/8 x 55 1/8 in)

Rao Weiyi, Prayers into the Void, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 180 x 140 cm (70 7/8 x 55 1/8 in)

Rao Weiyi, Worries in the Blink of an Eye, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 60 cm (19 3/4 x 23 5/8 in)

Rao Weiyi, Glasses for Nobita, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 60 cm (19 3/4 x 23 5/8 in)

Ariane Heloise Hughes, Watch & Learn, 2022, Oil on linen, 50 × 30.5 cm (19 3/4 x 12 in)

Ariane Heloise Hughes, You Suck !, 2022, Oil on linen, 50 × 30.5 cm (19 3/4 x 12 in)