Experiment 01
Shang Chengxiang
商成祥
Production date
2011
Media
oil on canvas
Measurements
75.5 x 101 cm
Notes
Shang Chengxiang records his dreams, and the dream-like states of an active imagination: his hyper-realistic oil and acrylic paintings depict unsettling, surreal images. Influenced by Surrealist master, René Magritte, Shang merges his memories of the post-industrial landscape of abandoned factories and obsolete machinery in his hometown of Shenyang with references to dystopian science fiction, lunar landscapes and psychedelia. In particular, Shang is interested in psycho-analytic theories of the unconscious mind and the interpretation of dreams. His paintings are disturbingly ambiguous; each canvas is an encounter with the uncanny. Shang says, “Sometimes dreaming can be a good way to perceive the subconscious. In dreams there are always unstable, vague emotions that you can’t tell for sure. And those emotions are exactly what I am looking for. I believe that some of the most important things hide in our subconscious”.
Accession number
2018.066