Loy Luo
Dancing
2016-August-23rd--30th
FUNSPACE-ROMA ITALY
Curator, Dancing Together – Reading Loy Luo’s Paintings
Wen Wang Yongxu
Contemporary Chinese artists are exploring new possibilities in various directions. Whether in presentation, modes of thinking, or means of expression, they all represent the outward extension of complex narrative structures. In an age when time-sensitive and fragmented theatrical art has become a mainstream feature, we are delighted to see artists like Loy Luo adhering to the essence of art, creating through the most direct means expressions of alienation, meditation, emotion, or inner monologue.
In Loy Luo’s solo exhibition in Rome, three small-scale works from the Dancing Together series reveal her process of blending paint unevenly into the ground, repeatedly modifying and adjusting until balance is achieved. These captivating, passionate yet carefully controlled colors and textures are undeniably an elegant visual experience. Yet on closer inspection, one finds that these creations are more like the philosophical speculations of an artist devoted to contemplation, played out on canvas. This time, however, it is evident that she has begun to step out of her former state of struggle, suspension, and entanglement, entering instead a space of openness and calm—an ease of spirit available only to those with inner stability. On the canvas, Eastern and Western philosophical perspectives appear like black and white dancers in playful interplay. Of course, attentive viewers will still sense the lingering sensitivity in Luo’s painting, as if every brushstroke bears witness to her artistic growth and struggle.
Compared with her earlier works, Luo’s new paintings, in her own words, “delve deeper and push further.” In color, she strives to compress hues into more subtle, restrained, and extreme shades of grey. Formally, she attempts a “more complex simplicity”—a reduction toward essentials that unites Eastern tradition with Western theoretical painting in search of spiritual resonance. As Professor Qin Pu of the Central Academy of Fine Arts observed, Luo’s work seeks to stimulate tactile sensitivity through extreme visual restraint. This aligns with Song Weiguang’s comments on her sculpture, where compressed spatiality paradoxically produces depth and power. Luo’s artistic pursuit also echoes my understanding of her as a person: always seeking freedom by relinquishing what others treasure, or perhaps fascinated by the extreme challenges posed by the brutal perfection of the dancer’s shoes.
Works Exhibited
Opening View
A week before this exhibition, Luo also engaged in artistic exchanges with friends in Berlin, and is planning further shows. Through studying and reflecting on contemporary German art, she has clarified and affirmed her own contemporary position: avoiding fashionable trends in theater and high-tech media art, she insists on art as life’s essence, as a soulmate for both creator and viewer. As her German collectors remarked, when they encounter her paintings they do not feel dragged away by the fragmentation of the times, but rather experience calmness, depth, and tranquility. Luo believes that contemporary art can be performative, fragmented, slightly sentimental, and outwardly critical—but it should also return to contemplation, to integrity of spirit, authenticity, and inward resonance. To participate in the contemporary mainstream with a different posture—even if only on a spiritual level—requires not only the wisdom and clarity of the artistic dancer, but also great strength of heart and will.
In China’s contemporary art world, Loy Luo is a true loner. She does not flatter or ingratiate, but walks her own path with solitude, determination, even stubbornness.
As a curator who has known her for many years, I am well aware of her arduous journey and admire her courage to explore. I hope, through my experience and connections in Italy, to act as a bridge for such a dedicated artist, facilitating her communication with Western culture and art. I sincerely wish her artistic journey will go ever further. In my view, Loy Luo possesses the ambition, temperament, and energy to become a truly great artist.
