Paul Bai

About the Artist

Born in China, Paul Bai came to Australia in 1988 and was one of thousands of Chinese students granted asylum by Prime Minister Bob Hawke in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. His art practice explores notions of space, content and context, and highlights the ambiguous nature of spatiality that is both conceptual and physical.

Bai has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and overseas, a selection of which include: ‘Spatial Room No.1 — Homage to Erich Buchholz’, Ankles, Sydney (2019); ‘Flat World Society’, POP Gallery Brisbane (2018); ‘Green Screen’, IMA Brisbane (2017); Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2017, 2016); ‘NEW15’, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2015); LANDSEASKY, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou (2015); GOMA Q: Contemporary Queensland Art, QAGOMA Brisbane (2015); LANDSEASKY: revisiting spatiality in video art, Gallery IHN, Seoul, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai, and Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane (2014); ‘Primary Views’, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2008); ‘The Sky's the Limit’, Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts, Brisbane (2008); ‘Return to Aesthetics’, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Germany (2006); ‘Art Movement’, UTS Gallery, Sydney (2006); ‘16 – Brisbane Comes to Sydney’, Sydney Non-Objective Art (2006); ‘Post Contemporary Painting’, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2004); ‘Gravity – MAAP in Singapore’, Singapore Art Museum (2004); ‘A Group Show’, The Other House, Singapore (2004); ‘1+1+1’, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney (2004); ‘Paintings + more’, Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Tubingen, Germany (2004); David Pestorius Projects at Art Forum Berlin, Berlin (2003); Multimedia Art Asia-Pacific, Brisbane (2000); ‘Flash’, IMA Brisbane (2000); ‘Drawing room’, Brisbane City Gallery (1999); ‘Now – Emerging Artist in Queensland’, IMA Brisbane (1999); ‘Crossing the Ocean’, Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing (1999); ‘Hatched’, PICA - Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (1996); and ‘Claiming Turf, Claiming Fortitude’, IMA Brisbane (1994)

About the Artwork

This work explores a third option beyond the physical and conceptual spatial dualisms within painting practice. As the paint passes through the frame and canvas support, the painting space is integrated with the immediate space in front of the canvas, to occupy a space that is indeterminate and temporal. The title of the work suggests the tentative gap between the interpreted world and our own independent existence, in this instance the space between the viewer and the painting.

Between Me and the World No.26—Homage to Kazimir Malevich
2019
acrylic on canvas and wood frame resting on steel brackets
70 x 54.5cm
Courtesy of David Pestorius Projects
@ Open House Collective
73 Vulture Street West End Q 4101
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Venue Snapshot

Open House Collective is a creative retail, gallery, studio & event space.

Two adjacent shops here with a long presence as diverse creative and cultural spots. Previous tenants have been Box Vintage, Trash Video, Gooble Warming and a lighting showroom. In the 1960s and 1970s some twenty workers were employed here in the Adsett Shoe Repairs factory.