The group exhibition Within Iceless Age, curated by BluBlu, took place at the Blanc Gallery in midtown Manhattan from July 21 to July 24, 2024. This exhibition was an open call with a competitive selection process. The judging panel included Hanx Liu, Ruiyan Sun, Yihe Huang, and Sitong Cao. The exhibition featured a diverse array of artworks from nine acclaimed artists: Juice Cui, Ping He, Jenny Ping Lam Lin, Yilun Zhan, Shijia Song, Juntao Yang, Susie Luo, Wenjun Lu, and Xiaorui Zhong.
BluBlu. Within Iceless Age, Exhibition Poster. 2024.
Most of the exhibiting artists reside in New York yet come from diverse cultural backgrounds. In the book ‘Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity,’ Canadian scholar Charles Taylor explores the issue of ‘cultural identity stating that one’s identity is formed through a continuous process of selecting the “best position” within the range of environmental contexts, according to different situations and subconscious efforts. As cultural workers, their blended identities cannot be separated from the boundaries of cultural meanings, which are constructed by the constantly changing environment itself. In the context of global perspectives, cultural contradictions have begun to shift due to the ongoing changes in postmodern social discourse. The works of diasporic artists, who possess cross-regional experiences, have become focal points of postcolonial research both within and outside their domains. Their artworks exhibit fluid characteristics, whether in terms of cultural identity, gender identity, or linguistic identity, where the details intertwine and merge, forming a complex polyhedral prism. Diverging from traditional artists. Contemporary artists have gradually lost a singular cultural core and have turned towards more complex hybrid domains; they possess a sense of cultural detachment from their homelands and do not create with a singular cultural collective consciousness. Instead, through various subtle and clever means, they integrate cross-cultural backgrounds, making their works into a form of renewed creation.
The participating artists used different mediums to respond to the theme. “Within Iceless Age” is a complex metaphor that brings discussions related to asceticism, impermanence, and abstinence, as well as to the memories and connections explored by postmodern ecology. As the Haiku poet Matsuo Basho repeatedly wrote in his diary: “By the roadside, the hibiscus blooms, my horse opens its mouth to eat it.” All creations in the world cannot escape the fate of swift decay. In the present moment, this uncertainty of swift decay is further entangled with the capitalized society, deepening its impact on individuals. Understanding that life will eventually come to an end and then be obliterated and that everything will one day be eroded and disintegrated, raises the question: why do artists still create art? It is very likely because its existence touches upon the human instinct for expression. In Sanskrit, the word ‘Dukka’ is often translated as ‘dissatisfaction.’ If life is considered a grand act of asceticism, then ‘dissatisfaction’ with everything becomes the original source of an artist’s creation.
BluBlu. Within Iceless Age, Exhibition Site. 2024.
In this exhibition, Juntao Yang uses video as the medium of his artwork, integrating herbalism to construct a semi-public space with hallucinogenic effects and herbal aromas, by exploring the hidden relationships between herbs, religion, healing, and bodily senses, a personal third space forms and floats outside of all contexts. Shijia Song uses photography to explore the infinite subtle differences that span locations and spaces, deconstructing the traditional meaning of space. When viewing his work, warmth, calmness, plainness, and gloom slowly unfold before the viewer like a scroll. The artist achieves a “presence” within the field without physically being there, integrating his emotions and philosophy into the canvas in an iterative and transmissive manner. Documentary artist Juice Cui presents her documentary “Drifting.” She says, “It (the work itself) is both a physical journey and a theoretical exploration of diaspora.” Through the lenses of a cassette recorder and a film camera, the artist narrates a visual journey, traversing iconic cities such as Paris, London, New York, Shanghai, Barcelona, Copenhagen, and Belgrade, finally returning to her residence in London. During the journey, the boundaries of the artist’s cultural identity become blurred, gradually hybridizing and merging with the “other” cultures. The artist herself admits to being deeply influenced by Wordsworth and the ancient Chinese poetry collection Chu Ci, drawing from literature a profound contemplation of loneliness and the passage of time.
BluBlu. Within Iceless Age, Exhibition Site. 2024.
In the face of the postmodern present, the overly complex environment gives each artist their own syntax and viewpoints to express. Hong Kong poet Yesi (1949-2013) assessed the current environment: ”Our passion finds no outlet, our enthusiasm is always suppressed. We become indignant, quarreling with everyone we encounter. Our identities are unclear, with no place to belong. We enter different rooms, but never find a place to settle.“
No one can accurately define the present moment. Postmodern texts and artworks should respond to the increasingly hybridized current knowledge system. In recent years, the understanding of individuals, society, and nature has been carefully changing—all things seem to be slowly dissolved by the capitalization of society, while at the same time, everything is being reconstructed. What should contemporary artists do after the glaciers have disappeared? The only answer is to continue working, just as the sculptor Rodin conveyed the truth of life to the poet Rilke: work, and then let the sea turn.
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