South Korean-born, German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, in his book Praise to the Earth: A Trip to the Garden, describes his philosophical exploration while tending to the genre of “blue blossom” in his gardening work, and elaborates upon its romanticised essence through colour theory. As a symbol of eternal aspiration that calls to one’s passion and vocation, “blaue blume” not only embodies the metaphysical longing for the infinite, but also alludes to the lure and desire, or even nothingness – especially concerning its rare appearance. To this day, the blue flower remains an enduring motif in Western art. American poet Maggie Nelson made a similar presentation in her lyrical essay Bluets. The special part about blue is that it is solitary yet exalted, projecting a field oscillating between nostalgia for a distant memory and compassion for futurity. Building on such imagery, “A Blue-Flowering Day” examines works by local and international artists of various generations, which brings forth some simple yet profound concepts of the elusive emotion aroused by the blue flower, or the visual threshold of the particular colour and the speculative ecologies around it. Specifically, it covers four aspects: the mysterious blue of floral and botanical subjects, the sublime blue of colour field painting and abstraction, the healing blue of the ecological turn in the post-Anthropocene, and the disordered blue of urban and technological infrastructures.

Artists: Oliver Beer, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Chen Wei, Daniel Crews-Chubb, Mimosa Echard, Fei Yining, Spencer Finch, Guo Hongwei, Brook Hsu, Jiang Zhi, Ju Ting, Kwan Sheung Chi, Christopher Le Brun, Liang Wei, Liu Ren, Liu Xinyi, Inès Longevial, Lu Song, Rute Merk, Minoru Nomata, Li Li Ren, Pamela Rosenkranz, Shi Jiayun, Shi Zhiying, Shim Moon-Seup, Turi Simeti, Su Yu-Xin, Tang Yongxiang, Wang Jianwei, Kiki Xuebing Wang, Xu Zhen, Yuan Yuan, Zhang Ruyi

Venue: Yuan Art Museum, Beijing

Dates: 2024.9.24–12.1