Brooklyn, NY – Ortega y Gasset Projects is pleased to present Untitled Wall, a solo exhibition in the Project Space by Brooklyn-based artist Xingze Li. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, December 9 from 4 – 7 pm and the show will be on view through February 11, 2024.
Untitled Wall incorporates a body of work spanning photography and flat objects inspired by mostly blank walls in domestic and semi-public spaces. Each wall has its sense of time, passage of light, and history of marks. Since 2016, the artist has lived in Brooklyn and the observation of these neutral constructs surrounding him offered a momentary room for reverie and relief when he feels disconnected from his hometown Yan’an, China. Immersing himself in the ambiguity and richness of the surface textures, and with the desire to preserve those moments, Li uses his cellphone camera to take images, often of his home, studio, a doorway, or a hotel room. He then turns those cellphone-captured photos into flat sculptural installations that appear intimate and ancient. Each of the works fuses the perspective of the scene when the artist was in front of those walls and surfaces. It emphasizes the specific appearance when the color, shade, and light all come together and make that moment special and personal.
In his artist word: I feel safe and comfortable looking through the reflections, and through the many overlapping layers on the wall surface. So many things exist on a flat surface at the same time, with various depths, weights, scales, and lights. They help me to envision what’s behind and what’s ahead; offer me relief, and allow me to lose myself, to remember, to forget, and jump from moment to moment.
Hence I create ethereal portraits of walls, specifically how they affect my existence when I am in front of them. While lying down I see the ceiling and the fluorescent light floating above me, and as I come to standing its form shifts. As the light’s existence within space changes, it illuminates the environment in a new way. The work in the show pays attention to mundane structures and fixtures, and creates new pathways around them. The commonality and subtle variances within the appearance of each wall allow me to project my own experience onto it.
The work in the show blurs the sense of touch, proximity, and the experience of light and form, provoking the viewers to connect with what is often taken for granted. Although the original photograph serves as a template for the process, the way the printed images are treated and grouped blurs the boundary between reality and illusion, and builds a passageway for the viewer into those moments of reflection.
Exhibition Dates
December 9, 2023 – February 11, 2024
Opening Reception
Saturday, December 9, 2023 | 4 – 7 pm
Gallery Hours
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 1-6 pm or by appointment
Venue
363 3rd Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Ortega y Gasset Projects is accessible through two sets of stairs via 3rd Ave: The first set contains 7 steps to a landing, and the second 5 steps leading visitors into the gallery. If you have questions or specific access requests, please contact us at oygprojects@gmail.com.
Contact
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About Gallery
Ortega y Gasset Projects is an artist-run curatorial collective and exhibition space in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Ortega y Gasset Projects is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
About Artist
Xingze Li (b. 1992) is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Brooklyn. He has exhibited and curated in China, America, and Denmark. He has had solo and two-person exhibitions in New York City at venues including Sweet Lorraine Gallery, Tutu Gallery, and Hunter East Harlem Gallery. Recent group exhibitions have taken place at the Cathouse Proper and Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York City, Little Berlin in Philadelphia, and Carlsberg Byens Galleri & Kunstsalon in Copenhagen. He has curated shows including A Picnic State of Mind (2023), and F-1: Out Inside (2019) in Brooklyn, NY. Notable awards include the Marble House Project Residency, 77ART Residency, and Cope NYC Residency. Li earned his bachelor’s degree in Oil Painting from Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in 2015 and received his MFA in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute in 2019.
Website: www.xingzeli.com
Instagram: @xing.ze
(text & photo courtesy of Xingze Li & Ortega y Gasset Projects)
