Artificial Landscapes
— Gao FengFeng
In the work of the artist LU Hang（路航）, famous historical scenes have always been present. The presence of human or animal figures within these scenes clearly reveals the artist’s intention—to evoke our collective memory. The figure, though frozen in a moment of the past, manages to transcend that vanished instant, becoming a memory deconstructed and reconstructed by the artist, and then a vivid moment experienced by the viewer. We detach ourselves from its authenticity in order to enter a historical “field,” where the existence of protagonists reinterpreted by the artist is affirmed. These scenes, which once truly existed, leave their historical moment, extend into the present, and acquire a universal meaning.
In the works of LU Hang, the few details deliberately preserved by the artist revive our collective memory, offering us painful historical moments to relive. The artist intentionally removes the specific details of the people within these widely known scenes; he blurs and flattens them, rendering them timeless. At the same time, they could be anyone, anywhere. In contrast to these cold and severe scenes and figures, the artist employs extremely vivid and colorful tones. He restores life to the protagonists and reanimates our memories. The work draws the viewer’s eye while simultaneously pushing it away through a certain absurd and surreal effect.
LU Hang is one of the few artists born in the 1980s who directly appropriates elements from historical imagery as a basis for creation. He grew up in Beijing. During his middle school years, he practiced drawing at Beijing Railway Station for four consecutive years, using ordinary people waiting for trains as his models. Among them were businessmen, thieves, farmers, students, civil servants, and soldiers. From a young age, he accompanied his mother, a journalist, on reporting trips across China. He later graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and then from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges. Today he lives and works between Paris and Beijing.