SUPERLATIVE attempts to deliver “the most reasonable” representation in “the most emotional” way; while
demonstrating that the greatness of “the best artworks” lies in the fact that audiences will realize that “the best”
simply does not exist. - Han Yajuan, 2016
March 5th, 2016 - Longmen Art Projects is delighted to present SUPERLATIVE by Han Yajuan; featuring oil
paintings, sculptures, and video installations by the post-80s artist. As one of the representing members of the
Animamix Movement, Han Yajuan has enjoyed international acclaim over the past decade with solo exhibitions
held in United States, England, Holland, Italy, Turkey, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia. Her works have also been featured in various group shows locally and abroad, and are collected by major private and public collections such as Uli Sigg, China Academy of Art, BSI Switzerland, and the M+ Museum in Hong Kong. She was on “The Hot-Young-Artists League Table” in 2012. She is now embracing a new stage of her art creation. SUPERLATIVE will be the debut of her latest series and will run through April 30th.
Han Yajuan successively earned a Bachelor’s degree from China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and a Master’s
degree from Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, specializing in multimedia art and oil painting. A young
artist of the post-80s generation, Han Yajuan spent the past decade traversing through the world of artistic
expression with three complete series: from the Bling Bling series, which focused on individuality and
self-expression of the generation growing up in a consumerism cultural context; to the unique Transcendence
series, which expanded into multiple universes. With Something Beginning with C, which directly correlates with her personal experience, Han continues to challenge herself and every anguished transformation is followed by gratification of innovation. The highly anticipated SUPERLATIVE series is her fourth and latest series. “It is an open series of diversities and infinite possibilities”.
“Infinite possibilities” refers to not only language but also the content of Han Yajuan’s works. Her boundless
imagination and abundant creative energy have endowed this series with refreshing, inexplicable power.
“Beneath sensory pleasure lies rationality and solemnness”. By naming the exhibition SUPERLATIVE, the artist is inviting as well as asking viewers: “Is it superlative or not? You have to figure it out yourself!”
For the first time ever, the artist is also including a video installation, presenting the exhibition space as a whole
to the audience. In The Superlative Interstellar Joke, an academic essay written exclusively for this show,
renowned writer and art critic Shen Qilan remarked: “People tend to be drawn to Han Yajuan’s bright colors and beautiful composition. Actually, her works once were categorized into Animamix Aesthetics. Now, Han’s art
creation has progressed into the second phase, where the word ‘animation’ can no longer describe and embody. I call Han Yajuan’s experiment The Alternative Flat, which might evolve into a new variety of painting language. It produces both visual and intellectual pleasure instead of being obsessed with the thoroughness of flatness and two-dimensionality. The artist would choose techniques in accordance with the subject she is trying to reflect.”
SUPERLATIVE is an ambitious attempt of Han Yajuan. ”All my works of the past 15 years are closely related to the subject of the individual’s self-perception. The latest SUPERLATIVE series probes further into the subject of the relativity of authoritativeness and the boundaries of an individual’s cognition. For me, this exhibition may be the best representation of SUPERLATIVE before it becomes bound by its own definition.