Abstraction (re)creation – 20 under 40 Group exhibition featuring Han Bing at Le Consortium, Dijon

Paris, 1931—after the general trend turned to representation during the 1920s, Theo van Doesburg, Auguste Herbin, Jean Hélion and Georges Vantongerloo founded the group abstraction-création in order to counteract the influence of the Surrealist group led by André Breton. The same thing is happening today. This exhibition explores whether abstraction in painting will reveal a new way to face art, a better manner to address new issues far away from subjects, storytelling, and other figurative topics?

Han Bing is recognised for her sensitive yet disruptive visual language in paintings that deconstruct pictorial reality and open up new dimensions. Having recently moved to Paris after living in New York, Los Angeles and Shanghai, her practice draws on urban elements, including street scenes and architectural façades. She takes inspiration from the textures and patterns that appear in cities - especially the 'errors' and 'glitches' generated by ripped posters. For the artist, 'painting is a way to resist all the information that is being forced on us', and her observations of city life serve as a starting point for the processing of emotional impressions.

Taking inspiration from various sources, including theatre, science and literature, Han allows the dynamics of the works to guide their compositions. She creates using oil sticks and spray paint, occasionally allowing surprises during the process to introduce an unexpected twist to the work. 'My paintings are representational at times, but it’s more that there is a dynamic where a few patches have met unexpectedly and turned a bewildering situation into something that made sense to me at that particular moment,' says Han. Her works gradually move towards abstraction as figurative elements are filtered and deconstructed into fragments.