If you visited this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong exhibition, you should be familiar with Beijing artist Huang Dan. Ora-Ora recently presented her latest solo exhibition “Awakening,” focusing on her newest gold foil series. Huang Dan has always been dedicated to creating ink paintings on paper, and this series represents a new artistic expression for her, using gold foil to paint patterns on canvas, turning gold into more than just a background, but also a protagonist.
The theme of this exhibition references The Beatles’ classic 1969 work “Golden Slumbers,” a lullaby celebrating carefree childhood memories. The lyrics “waking up” allude to waking up to embrace a new day. In the exhibition, she mentioned the use of gold in imagery, where past artists used gold as a background, making ordinary people appear as if bathed in heavenly light. However, Huang Dan placed gold leaf in the center of the stage, transforming it into an undeniable focal point in the composition.
The thematic ideas and main images created by Huang Dan, including horses, snakes, monkeys, and mountains, have become carriers of gold. In her creative process, she transforms ink alchemy into flowing gold, accelerating the dissolution of the intention of living beings, and connecting gold itself with the spirit of the mortal world.
Under Huang Dan’s brush, the horse’s outline forms a subconscious connection, adding a sense of eternal unchanging compared to classical landscape paintings of the past. For thousands of years, humans have been searching, mining, and longing for gold, to those who collect gold, it is a powerful combination of warmth, strength, mystery, and portable value.
Although gold represents the solidity of form and the stability of value, it also possesses adaptability, substitutability, and versatility. The audience can linger repeatedly, observing how the light changes the visual presentation of the work at different times. As Huang Dan searches for the rhythm of life, the images she creates will also constantly transform and change based on the light and shadows at that time. These animals have become representatives of the universe that has undergone vicissitudes, carving out their own path, both static and unpredictable.
In the process of Huang Dan’s transition to abstract creation, these paintings are both a departure and a continuation. The theme of “Awakening” in this exhibition allows visitors to reflect on new beginnings, new possibilities, new dreams, and intentions at the moment of awakening. In the works exhibited in this exhibition, even in collective scenes lacking storylines or creative intentions, the artist depicts states of separation and unity with the same calm eyes.
In scenes where animals appear together, such as in the works “Harmony” and “Peaceful,” depicted and interpreted by Huang Dan, they emit a halo of affection and family, reflecting the artist’s continued progression towards abstraction.
For an artist who has always been dedicated to ink painting on paper, a complete shift to depicting gold has created an internal opportunity. For the artist herself, gold is an extension or development of her ink practice. Therefore, gold is liberated from its jealousy and greed, and is highly appreciated for its practicality, reflectiveness, and interactive dialogue with images. The colors emerging from the dark background are faintly visible in the twilight, the brilliant golden color is both inspiring like a lighthouse and captivating.
“First Awakening” Solo Exhibition by Wong Dan
Date: From now until August 7
Time: 10 am to 7 pm (Weekdays); 11 am to 7 pm (
Location: Ora-Ora, 105-107, 3/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
Image source and learn more: Ora-Ora
