Virtual Exhibition at ArtGate VR International, September 2020.
The exhibition is a result of the Collection’s observations and experiences past 2010 – when Millennials began to adult. The exhibition presents a curatorial exercise that illustrates, in a way, this generational coming of age. Millennials are, unequivocally, the first age group resolutely nurtured through commercially radio-transmitted information – initially through TV, and lately, through the internet.
The exhibition lays out three noteworthy figurations observed since the 2010s: Nostalgia – possibly for a well (or ill) advertised past; Urbanism – where metropolitan lifestyles now thrive more homogeneously thanks to Millennial’s resort for digital nativism; and Superflat expressionism – with the latter as a comforting response to today’s reality.
The exhibition opens with a set of contrasting Nostalgic figurations – two romantic canvases by Spanish artists Adriana Oliver (b. 1990), and two cynically-themed collages by American artist Sam Heydt (b. 1986). The show then devolves into urbanism, with two city abstractions by Chinese artists Lu Xinjian (b. 1977), and two cosmopolitan figurations by renowned British artist Julian Opie (b. 1958). The show ends Superlflat, with four artworks by three young Asian artists – Ink Yeong Baek (Korean, b. 1989), Kyne (Japanese, b.1988) and street artist Lousy (Hong Kongese, b. circa 1985). The Collection interprets these final renderings as artists’ aim to phase out the established contemporary, by leveraging on gentle, quirky introspections. To us, superflat works contemplate fevered imaginations of a sensitive generation that just looking to soothe and alleviate life as it turned out to be today.
Millennials are soon to take the world’s helm from ‘Boomers’ and ‘Gen Xers’, who perhaps shaped today’s present through dated, cold-war divisiveness. Millennials’ exceptional awareness, well cultured savviness, and multicultural charisma are perhaps what the world today needs to confidently steer and sustain itself further and forward.
The Collection acquired this set of works between 2018 and 2020, with the exception on artwork ‘Teacher 2’, by Julian Opie. Its exhibition is in collaboration with the KUN Museum (formerly Yang Art Museum) in Bejing, China.
Featured works:
Nostalgic Expressions:
Urban Abstraction & Realism:
Superflat Expressionism:
Video: Let’s Talk About Millennials (Youtube Video Release)
