Pearl Lam Galleries – 70 Square Metres is delighted to announce the solo exhibition Taxon by our first residency artist Moses Hamborg, featuring his latest collection of oil paintings that delve into the concept of transcendence. The exhibition is also Hamborg’s first solo exhibition. Grounded in classical oil painting traditions, he employs a meticulous approach, drawing inspiration from real-life encounters to discuss shared connections that transcend time and culture and create works that resonate with the intricacies of various emotions and psychologies. Working with models over the past 2.5 months in Shanghai, Hamborg drew inspiration from Wu Xing; a Chinese philosophical concept rooted in the five elements, comparing physical differentiation in nature with the symbolic classifications imposed by humanity.
Inspired by Renaissance painting, Hamborg’s practice is committed to the interplay of light and shadow through the use of classical oil painting traditions on jute. When the weave and rough texture of jute shows through the layers of paint, the pictorial plane conveys the underlying emotions and state of mind hidden beneath the surface of the subject.
In Wu Xing, living species are classified into five groups: scaly, feathered, naked, hairy, and armoured, each aligned with one of the five elements. Hamborg finds a parallel between this ancient taxonomy and Carl Jung’s theory of universal archetypes, where animals in dreams symbolise various aspects of the human psyche. For instance, dogs represent instinctual awareness , cats embody the feminine instinct, and horses symbolise the body and one’s physical health. According to both frameworks, categorical boundaries are transcended, with animals embodying symbolic weight beyond their physical traits. Hamborg is particularly fascinated by the intertwining state where distinctions fade and elements merge, making them difficult to differentiate.
6 November–14 December, 2024