“The Central Axis” Installation view at TANG CONTEMPORARY ART SEOUL © TANG CONTEMPORARY ART

Tang Contemporary Art Seoul is pleased to present The Central Axis, a solo exhibition by Xu Qu (b. 1978), on view from July 22 to August 26. This is Xu Qu’s fifth solo exhibition at Tang Contemporary Art and will feature his new series ‘Maze’.

Working across multiple medium, including video, painting, sculpture, and installation, Xu’s work explores the reality of globalized world and power relations. In this exhibition, the artist focuses on painting. He has said that to understand the medium of painting is to immerse oneself in a flat surface to find a deeper spaces.

In the series ‘Maze’, we can see the shape of a maze that fills the canvas with colorful colors. The ‘maze’ is not a “labyrinth” with only one entrance, but a “maze” with multiple entrances. Unlike traditional maze, Xu’s mazes have a central axis. This is reminiscent of the symmetrical structures found in Beijing’s architecture. The exhibition will also feature the ‘Exercise’ series and ‘Feed the Eagle-Orange and Purple’ series.

Xu’s works invite the viewer to contemplate a shape and depth of maze, and to feel the unique sense of space he creates in his paintings.