Shuling Guo Exhibition Explores Memory, Ritual At Hollis Taggart

(MENAFN- USA Art News) An upcoming solo exhibition by artist Shuling Guo, titled“Temple II,” will open at Hollis Taggart in New York on October 15 and run through December 5. The show draws inspiration from Guo's memories of growing up in Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, China, focusing on the region's distinctive blend of spiritual and folk traditions, as well as sacred symbolism and nature. The gallery also confirmed the exhibition will feature the artist's inaugural mural, which will transform the space into an immersive, meditative environment.

Guo's“Temple II” exhibition includes works created during significant personal milestones, specifically the birth of her daughter and the death of her grandmother. These paintings explore themes of memory, presence, and loss, with motifs like burgeoning blossoms, delicate flames, and glowing ribbon-like tendrils symbolizing life's transience, beauty, and fragility. The artist regards the body and mind as a temple, connecting physical, psychological, and emotional experiences.

The gallery noted Guo's early exposure to ceremonies and rituals in Guangdong Province, where Daoist and Buddhist traditions coexist with local folk customs.“Guo made frequent visits to her village temple, where local wood carving, murals, and sculpture became part of her visual memory,” the gallery stated. Her compositions are influenced by religious imagery, particularly from the Early Renaissance, incorporating arch-like elements that frame flowers or perching birds. Guo's technique, combining oil paint and colored pencil, produces diffused, otherworldly forms that evoke the spiritualist works of Agnes Pelton. Elements such as orchids also suggest sensuality and human anatomy, reminiscent of Georgia O'Keeffe. The gallery further explained that in Guo's art,“these different visual traditions converge as a way of exploring devotion and ritual.”

Works featured in the exhibition include: “Purple Glow” (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 20 x 16 inches; “Portrait X” (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 12 x 12 inches; “Portrait IX” (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 24 x 12 inches; “Tune Is in the Tree II” (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 30 x 24 inches; and “Portrait VIII” (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 24 x 12 inches.

We previously reported:

Brooklyn artist Mu Pan's "Micro MUniverse" exhibition at Hashimoto Contemporary reimagines mandalas with intricate, often surreal, acrylic works.

London-based artist Woo Jin Joo transforms discarded objects into uncanny sculptures that blend animal and domestic forms, exploring mythology and culture.

Source: This Is Colossal

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