HONG HAO

 

b.1965, Beijing, China
Lives and works in Beijing, China

Until the early 1990s in China, most photography was largely for propaganda or utilitarian purposes. Hong Hao is one of a generation of emerging artists who have developed a critical photographic practice that reflects on the legacy of cultural memory and the ironies of a national identity in a rapidly changing China.

Using a combination of photography, print, and the scanning of real-life objects, Hong creates varied art works. Often he arranges familiar objects and scenes to challenge assumptions and preconceived perceptions. In a recent series entitled ‘My things’, he created a tableaux of accumulated objects, digitally re-edited and crowded into the flat surface of the picture plane. These works focused on everyday items to suggest how individuals define themselves through the accretion of inanimate and mass-produced objects.

Other series have involved the subtle manipulation of traditional items such as maps and antique scrolls, and the skilful photographic construction of false scenes of tourism and consumer-driven affluence. In many of his works, Hong reorganises cultural and popular icons, consumer items and ‘sacred’ objects to reveal an alternative point of view.

An eminent Chinese contemporary artist, Hong Hao has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally. In 1999, a major solo exhibition of his work, ‘Hidden Scriptures – Exhibition of Works by Hong Hao’, was held at Canvas International Art Foundation in Amsterdam. Other solo exhibitions have included ‘Hong Hao’ at Base Gallery in Tokyo, Japan; ‘Hong Hao, Fotografias’ at Loft Gallery, Barcelona, Spain; and ‘Hong Hao’s Reading Room’, Chambers Fine Art in New York, USA, all in 2004.

Gallery 1.1, GoMA

A full-colour publication is available from the Gallery Store.

Hong Hao, 'Long March in Panjiayuan' 2004 

HONG HAO
Long March in Panjiayuan A 2004
Purchased 2006
Collection: The Queensland Art Gallery

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