Tong Kun Niao
Solo Exhibition
Client: Jupiter Museum of Art
#Exhibition # Digital
2020
This project was created for the first solo exhibition of the young artist Tong Kunniao. The character Niao (鸟), meaning "bird," is an uncommon choice for a given name, and throughout his life people have often asked about the story behind it. For this exhibition, Tong chose the reversal of his name as the central concept, paired with his signature self-portrait.
Tong's work is often described as camp in style, characterized by a deliberate tension between harmony and disruption. In response, I arranged the three Chinese characters repeatedly in alternating order across the background, allowing viewers to interpret them as either the artist's name or the exhibition title. The typography features sharp, fragile negative spaces that echo the visual tension and ambiguity found throughout Tong's work.
Tong's work is often described as camp in style, characterized by a deliberate tension between harmony and disruption. In response, I arranged the three Chinese characters repeatedly in alternating order across the background, allowing viewers to interpret them as either the artist's name or the exhibition title. The typography features sharp, fragile negative spaces that echo the visual tension and ambiguity found throughout Tong's work.
