He An：Coming down

Upon Landing…   

Lee Ambrozy

You have arrived at an unusual scene, which––similar to all of He An’s solo projects––was conceived of as a spatial and conceptual whole. Themes of everyday violence and its accumulated impact on the human body tie the exhibition together. And if “violence” is too strong a word, its physical traces are visible in every artwork, although the force of impact varies. He gives form to gravity, and induces a palpable sense of anxiety and longing that reflects the collective unconscious in the post-pandemic world… even though He An told me the spokes and spherical forms resembling a coronavirus were unconscious decisions.

He An’s materials have an industrial cool, and are somewhat atypical in contemporary art. In “Coming Down” he presents universally recognizable designs and commonplace objects literally pulled from the fabric of everyday life, reconfiguring them into unfamiliar assemblages that give us pause. Found articles such as stones and pipes collected roadside in Beijing have an archaeological appeal with their aged surfaces, and desirable dirt. Sometimes the raw materials he chooses are masquerading as something they are not, twinning in form but not in substance. In these instances, his creative process is understood only through closer looking, and meaning is generated through understanding the alchemical shifts.

He An works collaboratively to fabricate his works, testing the limits of both materials and manufacture. His experimental processes often harness the inertia of forms that are inherent to his materials and found objects. Many times he leaves them in an unaltered state––holes are unpatched, bends and curves in the pipes are left just so, or the impact of a falling object determines it final shape. Traces of past actions hint at unseen histories, and other invisible physical forces are evidenced in temperature shifts affected by the functioning air conditioners onsite, the condensation of water droplets, and their descent to the ground. The entanglements and operations He An presents are metaphors for and commentary on our current world. Their retro designs can also be seen as nostalgic reminiscences of his youth.  

As an afterward, the final two rooms contain earlier artworks whose pure energy (light) is channeled through He An’s distinctive language of found neon signage. Despite the unfamiliar beauty he cultivates through an aesthetics built of conventional––even negligible––materials, the violent forces of impact, and surface marks and scratches tell unique histories. Combined with how He An intentionally channels energy and finds meaning in their content, the illumination, chills in the air, or gravitational forces, are poetics to which everyone can relate.