Twin Semi-Arcwise

Both Sun Xiaofeng and Stefan Müller like to draw circles in their paintingswhichrepresent different things. Some are simplified forms of melon and fruits, glasses and plates, moon and umbrella; some are symbols of psychological prototypes; some are merely basic prints of existence. Irregular and random, these circles are alive withorganic features and breath of life, remaining obedient to squarely rectangular frames in occasional revolt against them.

In drawing circles, lines are the simplest and most self-sufficient elements.Circles are not necessarilyto be perfect. A circle will take shape when bothends of the line register a trend of closing up in an arcwise shape. There is no need to distinguish between lines and shape. Circles are lines as well as shapes.In the shape of circles, lines constitute a cycle that has no curves or twists, devoid of originand termination.

In the presupposed “frame” of modernism and the “concept” pre-set in modern arts, circles are kind of stuck in the middle. As a matter of fact, circles are an ancient shape, frequently found in the most primitive or the most immature scribbling. As a kind of nonlinear closed lines, circles are not produced or scoped by frames, nor does the evolvement direction of history concern them.Circlesbasically fall within the “Yihua” theory (token-token identity theory of painting) put forward by Shi Tao, a famous reformist of landscape painting in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), or “meta painting” proposed by art historians.

Neither Sun Xiaofeng nor Stefan Müller is the kind of artists who create works for art history and system. Their paintings are more of everydaylifestyle.Yu Xiaofeng emphasizes the purposes of life of traditional men of letters. Therefore, the objects of his paintings are everything around him and even the painting property itself.Müller, however, has a preference for a certainkind of modern life. It explains his uses of imagery symbols to approach a certain spirituality of existence.

In fact, Sun Xiaofeng and Stefan Müllerarrive at a similar destination from two opposite starting points.Sun starts from everyday life and approaches worldly abstraction by means of ink painting and various materials (such as gold foil and cement); Müller proceeds from minimalism and expressionism to the extent of abstract humor by virtue of gathering all kinds of symbols and images.

The two artists named the exhibition Twin Semi-Arcwise for the frequent presence of circles in their works because circles have always been the theme of their creation. Yet more importantly, circles happen to constitute an inherent connection, as if they can take each other for reference and circulate in one another. What underpins the connection is the eternal contemporariness lifted above the boundary between the oriental or the occidental, the nonlinear consciousness of time and the vitalism that reproduces history in the form ofnumerous present moments.

Exhibition:Twin Semi-arcwise
Artists: Sun Xiaofeng;Stefan Muller
Curator：Bao Dong
Opening Ceremony:4:00pm,October 20，2017
Sponsor:S Hotel；Galerie Nagel Draxler;No.55 ART SPACE
Exhibition Venue：No.150 Dunhua N.Road,Taipei,Taiwan
TEL:886 2 2712 1777

Invitation
Dinner：6:30pm,October 20，2017
Venue：HYG,B1,S Hotel