Art Update: June 19, 2021

AO HANG 高航 : INSTANT GRATIFICATION

Anya Tish Gallery presents INSTANT GRATIFICATION, the gallery’s second solo exhibition of Chinese-born, Houston-based artist, Gao Hang. In his current series, 21st Century Realism, the artist illustrates modern human habits with a sense of humor and absurdity, while commenting on, and aiming to satiate, the viewer’s need for instant gratification. Hang’s color field paintings and objects evoke the postmodernist neo-pop movement, by the use of the subject matter and color, as a conceptual and structural armature. The artist taps into the zeitgeist of the age of social media, intentionally engaging the aesthetics of the internet and of our glowing digital devices, in an effort to compete for attention amongst the rapid viewing mechanics of the 21st century.

Hang scours the internet in search of images or memes, reimagining how the image may look from different angles or with a different composition. He then reduces them into primitive polygon shapes and colors, airbrushing the imagery with acrylic paint on canvas. Hang’s low-poly graphics and textures give way to a new digital means of expression, simulating a “modern production method but with a high fault tolerance.” – Gao Hang

From the artist:
“We like to post photos of ourselves on social media all the time. We want to broadcast ourselves in order to survive, to prove we exist. So, to me, all of us are fluorescent. That’s why I use fluorescent paint. I’m trying to reference what’s happening online…I am sure my art process has something to do with my habits and obsessions. I mostly listen to standup comedy while making my work. I enjoy standup comedy that challenges general beliefs, and political correctness, yet at its core is negotiating between the observations, language, and laughter of a given performance. At some point, my paintings are like standup comedy, they can only do so much about solving real problems. But brutal honesty, absurdity, and humor are very powerful qualities in any type of conversation. ” – Gao Hang, 2021

About the artist:
Gao Hang, born in 1991, in Baoding, China, currently lives and works in Houston, TX. Hang moved to Houston, Texas in 2015, to attain an MFA in Painting from the University of Houston, after obtaining a Bachelor of Art degree in Oil Painting from Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, 2013. His work has been exhibited in numerous Texas art venues, such as: Art League Houston and Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas, as well as in international venues in Guangzhou, China; London, United Kingdom; Eindhoven, Netherlands; Beijing, China; and New York City, USA. Hang published an artist’s book of watercolors, “Good Times Bad Times Give Me Some of That,” which gives a humorous insight into the struggle of immigrating to the United States. His work has been featured in several publications including: ItsNiceThat, New American Paintings, Maak Magazine, Neocha Magazine, and Art Plugged. Hang was recently awarded the Artadia Houston Fellowship Award; the Sunny Art Prize in London, UK; and the Houston Art Alliance – Artists and Creative Individuals Grant in Houston, Texas. Recently, Hang has expanded his artistic practice into the digital realm of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.

Artist Spotlight: Mary Baxter

Artist Statement
As always, as ever, I am continually trying to convey the idea of a painting with fewer brushstrokes. Simple is hard, but for me it is the goal. I like to sort of depict a moment in a place.

Mary Baxter has always had a keen interest in art, particularly as a result of family camping trips to the Chihuahuan Desert. She pursued her passion at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she studied painting and advanced printmaking and earned her Bachelor of Science degree. Fully self-financing her studies, Baxter worked across the country on the high goal polo circuit.
Baxter moved to the Big Bend region when she leased a ranch Southwest of Marfa for raising cattle and training horses. It was there that she began to see the beauty of the rugged desert and interpret it in her paintings. After several years, she was able to free herself of ranch duties to paint full-time.
She relocated to Marathon and opened the Baxter Studio and Gallery in the old Shoemake Hardware Building. There, she continued to produce and sell her works for ten years. Baxter currently splits her time living and working between Marfa Texas and southern New Mexico. She usually gathers ideas and sketches while hiking, or riding her mule, and then uses this material for larger pieces which she finishes later in her studio. This approach has helped Baxter truly convey the beauty of the desert landscape.

Artist Q&A

Describe your artistic style in three words.
Landscapes loosely painted

What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired?
…go for a walk.

Tell us something unique about your process.
There is a place which lies between plein air painting and painting while using a photograph, that I like for studio work. I can become familiar with the subject by my sketches and a photograph, and see the details, and decide what I want to convey, and then throw all that away while making the painting.

See Also

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What advice do you have for other artists?
Just paint. A lot. And don’t worry too much with any rules.

What is next for you?
I’m having a lot of fun exploring and painting these new landscapes that I’m finding in New Mexico. It is still the Chihuahuan desert, but all new locations. And that’s always exciting.

Mary’s works are available at Foltz Fine Art.