“My drinking fountain at home has several modes for water temperature. I usually set it to normal because I always expect the “normal temperature” water is the easiest to drink. Until one day, a strong cold snap brought the temperature down, which disrupted the expected comfort I settled into and made my “normal temperature” water not as drinkable as before. I then suddenly realized the impermanence of the contraction and expansion of the real boundary, corresponding to the normalized yet unpredictable personal feelings in daily life.”
—Jin Haofan
Normal temperature – a floating range that defines the boundaries of real-time moments, emphasizing the perception of change at the moment while also suggesting the limits of change, but the limitations themselves are also unpredictable. Personal perception has long been the theme of Jin Haofan’s works, and has been further explored in his latest series. The artist gradually gave up his repetitive attempts trying to solidify every “moment” in the moment and began to find a new measurement method in his creation to observe real life and self-perception. This practice is directly reflected in the work tilted the same as the exhibition, “Normal Temperature”: by depicting an unlimited number of stones, it dispelled the obsession of narrative and smoothed out the overly functional expressions. The similar forms with subtle differences of the stones refer to the normal state of change. Normal, at the same time, under the premise of being freely arrangable, the boundary of change is expressed in a cognitively embarrassing situation. In the “container” series, Jin made the same attempt: the pot shaped objects that were open and waiting to be filled were placed in the foreground with a specific atmosphere of personal perceptions in the background– the immatureness in a restless summer in “Container-2”, or the seashore with temperamental weather hinted in “Container-1”. Jin Haofan tries to present the ups and downs in the search of fragmental perceptions, and understand the game between the impermanence of reality and the pursuit of self-integrity in order to explore the invisible boundary of life，the rhythm of “normal”.
Vanguard Gallery is presenting Jin Haofan’s solo exhibition “Normal Temperature” on May 24th. This exhibition will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in the gallery and will lasts until July 28.
About the artist
Jin Haofan was born in Guangdong Province in 1987. He graduated from Sichuan Fine Art Institute in 2010 majored in oil painting. In 2015, he founded artists group Jiu Society together with Fang Di and Ji Hao. Jin now works and lives in Shenzhen, China. Recent exhibitions include: Shenzhen Biennale of Contemporary Art, Shenzhen, China (2017); Good Night, ldiot, Tenjinyama Art Studio, Sapporo, Japan (2016 solo exhibition); Sullivan’s Attic, MOU Art, Beijing,China(2016); MTRRAGE(with He Shaotong), Gallery 55, Shanghai, China(2015 solo exhibition).
