I have always been sympathizing with the troops that lost the great battles in any rebellious wars, because I admire their spirit in standing up for their faith and ideas, no matter what kind of political reason they were fighting for!
Mu Pan, 2018
Historic conflicts and gory sovereignty are on the agenda when we rip open 2018 with a retrospective solo show by the furiously skilled Chinese-American artist, Mu Pan, and his bestial world of heinous battlefields.
Bloodcurdling portraits of fallen anti-heroes and meter-long scenery of gloomy political satire, wrapped in iconic symbols, completely knock us off our feet us as we venture into Mu Pan’s combat zone. As a macabre storyteller, he does not hold anything back as he brutally and mercilessly illustrates the slain soldiers from a great historical reign of war, collapsed and left to nothing, unless they have already succumb to the sword of the enemy.
“Battles Without Honor and Humanity” shows the most ferocious and glorious highlights from the past twelve years of Mu Pan’s impressive career as a narrative artist. The common denominator of the sixteen selected grandiose works of the exhibition is a continuous theme of the human illusion of justice and humanity. Shaped as animals or other anthropomorphic figures, Mu Pan recounts some of the greatest battles of history in a distinctive imagery that reveals the human folly and the boundless power of the animals. His focus on the defeat of the fallen warriors derives from an aversion against the idea of victory and loss, leaving us to mechanically follow the victors and their ideologies.
A massive battlefield of bloodshed between fictional characters, historical warlords and American armies spreads over the four-meter canvas of the grandest masterpiece in the exhibition. Mu Pan has borrowed the title of both the artwork and the exhibition from Japanese film director Kinji Fukasaku’s film chronicles from the 1970s, depicting defeated WWII troops who cynically occupy Hiroshima’s underworld in the post-war era of Japan. The films became known for their ultra-violent and vivid documentary style – lucid traits that are not difficult to spot in Mu Pan’s equally brutal and sharply constructed masterstrokes.
In addition to Mu Pan’s vivid narratives with deep roots in American and East Asian war history, through which he channels the shadow side of the human nature, the exhibition also gives an insight into his artistic development over the years. The varying expressions and unmistakable series of the same tale bear witness to a number of transitions from one narrator voice to another. From cartooning to a more abstract brush of oil painting up until today, where acrylic painting is his preferred narrative.
Mu Pan has created a war zone without comparison, which will assuredly challenge anyone who dares to step in. Let yourselves get lost behind the front line of horror!
The exhibition shows sixteen acrylic and oil paintings.Mu Pan will be present at the opening and available for interviews.Contact the gallery at info@gallerypoulsen.com or tel. + 45 33 33 93 96 for further information.
