If there was Influx once, then there will be Exodus Is it the time to say the last farewell, or is it another reason to meet again?
“Exodus” exhibition marks the end of the 7 years long Journey to the East period of the Polish artist Wieslaw Borkowski Jr, known also as Baiwei and White Tail. He is about to leave Hangzhou for an indefinite period of time, so he took care and prepared a pair of wings for every soul, along with puzzles that need to be discerned. Who has eyes to see, let him see, and who has ears to hear, let him hear!
The recent art of Baiwei is very much about hidden traces and mystery. But, unlike adherents of Kabbalah and numerology, White Tail does not seek a secret knowledge about the design of the universe in letters and numbers, but creates his own artistic world in which transitions between opposites are crucial. Where is the East, there is the West. Where there is light, there is darkness. Where is aging, there is re-creation. Where is mysticism, there is irony. In pair with tradition, the latest technology appears. Duality for Baiwei’s creativity is of paramount importance here.
You can say, the artist is creating his version of the Glass Bead Game: he plays with philosophical concepts of East and West, cultural symbols, and puzzles. White Tail weaves a pattern of black and white threads in his game, which inevitably leads him to the balance of incompatible things.
Here we find such surreal works of Baiwei, where the western science-fiction’s spaceship hovers among the mist in the classical Chinese landscape. With the artist’s one stroke, dance rhythms start to flow in his musical calligraphies. Going further, there are peculiar calligraffities that cover unexpected surfaces.
Follow the artist on his journey through the exhibition space but be attentive and look around carefully! Maybe you will find much more in the things that surround you.
And remember: the eight presences.