Une Simple Histoire

Curated by Domenico de Chirico 

 

Based on such precepts, this two-person exhibition brings together the works of two  young artists, contemporaries. Frenchman Leo Orta and Chinese Gao Xintong, whose  work, while springing from distinct visual and conceptual universes, share a common  tension, namely that of exploring reality and human existence not as static or easily  defined entities, but as territories that are as arcane as they are fruitful, in a state of  perpetual evolution. Here, the dialogue between matter and abstraction, between  sculpture and painting, which emerges from their works, is not resolved into a simple  contrast, but results in a prolific encounter between different visions, capable of mutually  nourishing each other.

 

Therefore, Orta and Gao do not merely play with shapes and  colors, but probe, each in their way, the intrinsic nature of the elements, bringing out a  stream of sensations and meanings that transcend the ordinary, exploring the inescapable  balance between presence and absence, between visible and invisible. Each of their  impetus or creative acts reflects an inner quest, in which simplicity is not necessarily  synonymous with impersonality, but rather an attempt to trace back to that undisputed  élan vital from which everything originated. 

 

 

 

Through a sculptural practice that  skillfully blends art and design, Leo Orta invites us to reflect on the interconnectedness of  individual and community, exploring the social and psychological dimensions of human  existence. What's more, inspired by the teachings of the existentialism of Martin  Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, in particular by Heidegger’s  concept of “being in the world” (Dasein), Orta translates these ideas into his sculptures,  generating tangible manifestations of the delicate interaction between the individual and  the environment. His works, exploratory in nature, create concrete yet abstract worlds, evoking deep feelings related to the body, memory, and transformation.

 

Each sculpture  becomes a space for reflection on man's vulnerability and incessant search for meaning,  where forms intertwine and evolve, contract, and expand, soliciting an experience of the  events more intimate, sensitive, and deeply emotional. Orta also draws inspiration from  other sources, including psychoanalysis, intending to connect to the subconscious and  the imaginary to express feelings more spontaneously through his works.

 

He refers to the  metaphors of Henry Moore, who defined his monumental art as “an expression of the meaning of life and an exhortation to engage in life,” and to the emotional and  sophisticated manifestations of Niki de Saint Phalle. Recently, he has focused on the  disturbing work of David Altmejd, appreciating his intuitive relationship with form and the  state changes caused by materials, and exploring their expressive potential. In addition to  all this, he is also fascinated by the world of industry and factories, from which he draws  insights into understanding production cycles from creation to end use, exploring  practices of recycling and reuse as alternatives to relentless destruction.

 

Finally, he is  inspired by the magnificence of nature, its organic aesthetic, the lush beauty of  biodiversity that characterizes it, and its disappearance, which is as rapid as it is gradual  and devastating. In light of all this, in an exacerbating climate that seems to threaten the  very balance of life, and is increasingly unstable, his sculptures - almost stylized lunar  presences - manifest themselves through dense and full-bodied, with chromatic  variations ranging from the hues of a particularly thirsty earth to those of the sky,  sometimes clear, sometimes-as in this case-crossed by boreal gleams.

 

The result is a  profound tension between permanence and dissolution, between erosion and renewal.  Pushing beyond the sculptural gesture, Orta seeks a silent confrontation between the  work and the viewer: an intimate encounter between two unknown presences, united by a  moment of recognition of each other, not necessarily mediated by the material. In this  transient cohabitation are intertwined contradictory emotional states of awe and  welcome; thus, through these forms metamorphic, his practice is configured as a shifting  relationship between permanence and survival, reflecting on the emotional and ecological  entanglements that characterize our time. 

 

On the other hand is Gao Xintong, a young emerging talent, whose research, deeply  rooted in Taoist philosophy, investigates themes such as spirituality, contemplation, and  the harmonious friction between movement and stillness, using painting as a tool to give  form to the invisible. Shades of fluid colors, vibrant beams of light, antithetical energies,  and indefinite forms - almost synographic - intertwine in his canvases, resulting in a  painting that challenges the boundaries of the figurative and invites an immersive and  novel experience, harmoniously oscillating between tradition and avant-garde. His works,  which blend Italian Futurism and Eastern tradition with originality, investigate the balance  between movement and stillness through the lens of Taoist philosophy, particularly the  concept of qi and the duality of emptiness and fullness.

 

All of his compositions,  constructed with meticulous care through fluid lines and vibrant colors, recall his home  culture and embody, precisely, the idea of qi: that vital energy, invisible but perceptible,  that runs through nature and permeates the entire cosmos. Linked to the change and  movement of the real world, qi manifests itself in every living being, giving rise to a visual  flow that unites physical and spiritual dimensions. In his works, the relationship between  full and empty becomes a dynamic engine, generating inner and recondite.

 

The canvas is  thus transformed into an encephalic landscape, characterized by fluid lines and colors  vibrant, alternating between warm and cold tones. Each element takes on a symbolic and  energetic form, giving rise to an abstraction that invites us to explore the dynamic flow  and unconditional spiritual energy of nature. Evocative landscapes come to life in his  work, where emptiness, a force silent and dynamic, allows elements to surface and come  alive gradually. His pictorial approach often reflects a desire to capture the “energy of the air” and explore the flow through a gesture that, while spontaneous, is always precise,  measured, and never random.

Also taking inspiration from the Taoist concept of Wu Wei -  effortless action - and that of Yin and Yang, which in Chinese philosophy represents the  harmony of opposites, Gao approaches painting as a gesture in eurythmic attunement  with the natural flow of things. His works invite the viewer to overcome the dualism  between subject and object, moving ever closer to the concept of the “landscape of the soul,” which becomes a central theme of his visual research. Specifically, the  “Cyberbamboo” series represents, precisely, a bamboo forest in such a way that the  viewer becomes part of it, an experience reminiscent of traditional Shan shui paintings.  Similarly, the “Untitled” series of portraits restores the ‘landscape of the soul’ from  scratch: a dynamic and sensory that invites the audience to look beyond the figurative, to  explore the essence of the spirit through the pictorial gesture, to the sound of brush and  ink, proper to the Shan shui tradition.