时雨 shí yǔ, loosely translating to ‘timely rain’, dances to the idea of the fleeting spring showers that refresh the landscape after winter. Adopted from Chinese literature and linked to the ancient philosophical belief of 天人合一 or Tiān Rén Hé Yī (understood as the unity between Heaven, Earth and Humanity), the concept of ‘timely rain’ reminds us to trust the universe to bring what is needed, when it is needed. That we must relinquish the perception of human dominance and control over the natural world to achieve harmony within it. In an age shaped by science, we tend to frame the material world as all things tangible and reject the intangible as less than or entirely unreal. Yet there remains an ongoing undercurrent of oneness that permeates throughout humanity.

时雨 Showers of Spring is an exhibition that demonstrates how this interconnectedness finds form through the artworks of Qiuwang Wang and Gavin Chai as painting and ceramics, respectively. It champions the primal instinct to live, posing the poignant question: “What is our purpose?” Vulnerability, openness and allegory are strong thematic threads through both artists’ works. Enigmatic in subject, their worlds become surreal and dreamlike with an emphasis on the human condition, revealing the inner landscapes that influence our lives.

Qiuwang Wang (born in China, 1973) is a figurative painter based in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. Through symbolic forms and multi-layered compositions, his work explores the relationship between humanity, nature, and consciousness — feeling the resonance between spirit and nature, and sensing the unity of all things within the flow of existence and transformation. His paintings seek to reveal the invisible currents of emotion, the inner landscapes, and the dimensions that surround and shape us.

Qiuwang Wang graduated from Nanjing University of the Arts in 1996. After an early career in graphic design, he turned his full attention to art-making in 2011. Since moving to New Zealand in 2014, he has lived and worked in Auckland, where he continues to explore painting and its relationship with contemporary thought and perception.

Gavin Chai is a figurative painter and sculptor based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. His work is poetic in nature, reflecting on the human condition and our search for meaning in an ever-shifting world.

Bringing together realism with elements of the fantastic, Gavin draws inspiration from European and Chinese artistic traditions. He completed his Bachelor or Visual Arts at AUT in 2020, and is currently represented by Föenander galleries, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, and Page Galleries in Te Whanganui-a-tara Wellington.

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