Subcurrents originally refer to the underground streams that quietly and continuously shape the terrain and structure of the land. In this exhibition, the natural motif is transformed into a threefold metaphor: it represents the emotional undercurrents running beneath contemporary society, the hidden force moving within social structures, and the seepage of memories beneath the strata of consciousness. It alludes to an invisible, intertwined, and meandering shared psychological presence.

Subcurrents may be understood as subtle movements of the subconscious, projected or repressed by the visible reality. Psychologically, they manifest as suppressed desires, emotions, and forgotten memories. These forces surge and intertwine beneath consciousness, shaping future possibilities through their tension with reality. They may well constitute the concealed riverbed upon which “truth” flows, gently influencing the course of the real world.

Subcurrents also signify marginal practices still submerged beneath the surface of mainstream recognition. The discourse of established artists shapes the visible layer of culture, sedimented with the aesthetic inertia of a previous generation, while younger practitioners are emerging as quietly influential presences. Embedded within their practice lies a contemporaneity that remains underrecognized, a vitality not yet fully articulated, and an innovative potential that continues to evolve beyond the definitions and classifications of art history.

The young artists’ practices can be seen as embodiments of the two layers of subcurrents. Guangyao CHEN’s sculptures imply unseen emotional contrasts between dreams and reality, memory and the present; Yinuo LI’s allegorical fragments whisper on the canvas, concealing a micro-reconstruction of visible narratives; Zihan CUI’s works compose an ineffable fog of thought through tranquil symbols and suggestive nuances; Ziang YIN’s paintings intermingle mythicism with a sense of nature, creating a connectivity of non-human perspectives; Elizabeth NAGYPATAKY’s sculptures solidify the emotional tendencies of movement into material form, with unnamed forces and unreleased emotions beneath; Marc TRUCKENBRODT’s paintings reveal a fairytale-like serenity running underneath their seemingly intense formal features, evoking a balance between the work’s stillness and motion.

These artists collectively form six sets of dyadic imagery: dream and reality, appearance and subtext, the expressible and the ineffable, anthropocentrism and non-human perception, materiality and immateriality, intensity and submersion. Intertwined and interwoven, these dualities resemble the tributaries of subcurrents, unfolding more deeply and multidimensionally throughout the exhibition. They respond to the subconscious themes of our time through nonlinear trajectories. Ultimately, Subcurrents as a metaphor refers to internal forces that remain hidden yet quietly active. Though subtle and often uncredited, they may gradually shape artistic and cultural frameworks. Over time, these forces could align to reconfigure existing systems of understanding.

Co-Curators

Fanfan Yuxuan FAN

Fanfan holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Arts Administration from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and KEDGE Business School, and is currently pursuing her M.A. in Visual Arts Administration at New York University. Based in New York, she is dedicated to uplifting post-90s artists through nomadic curatorial projects. She has served as Gallery and VIP Relations Coordinator for the Asia NOW Paris Art Fair, and as Gallery Assistant at Eli Klein Gallery in New York.

Sélène Shuchun ZHU

Sélène is a curator trained in traditional Chinese gongbi painting with an academic background in East Asian art history. She graduated from Zhejiang University and holds a Master’s in Management from ESSEC Business School. Based in Paris, she previously worked at an antiquarian firm, facilitating Asian-European business collaboration. Her art critics and articles have been published in “Collection” and “The Place Museum Journal”.

Academic Director

Dr. JIANG Jun

Dr. JIANG Jun is an independent curator and art critic, currently serving as Curator-at-Large of Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art. He graduated from the Kunstakademie Münster in Germany and obtained a Ph.D. in Art Studies from the China Academy of Art. He was a postdoctoral researcher in architecture at Tongji University in Shanghai. JIANG Jun co-curated “Altas: Harmony in Diversity”, China’s National Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024), and The 7th Guangzhou Triennial (2022–2023).

Artists

01. Guangyao CHEN

Guangyao CHEN (b.1996, China) currently lives and works in Beijing. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2021 and master’s degree in 2024 from Studio One, Department of Sculpture, Central Academy of Fine Arts. CHEN employs nonlinear narratives in his sculptural practice to explore the tension between reality and dreams. Through humorous and symbolic expression, he transforms personal experiences of individual growth into fragmented, dreamlike scenes, which he reassembles. By deconstructing these elements spatially, he reflects on the dialogue between dream and reality. The intoxication of the dream mirrors the dilemmas of reality—his figures, whether clasping hands or resting in a daze, embody both the silence of dreams and the contemplation of life.

02. Zihan CUI

Zihan CUI (b. 2000, China) is pursuing an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, following a BFA in Oil Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (2024). CUI’s practice investigates the often unnoticed influence of algorithms and their subtle control over individuals. He views digital life as fragmented, with daily experiences parsed into symbolic details. This anxiety drives him to reimagine everyday scenes through estrangement, using 3D scanning and animation to depict floating objects and surreal landscapes. His work reflects the tension between systemic control and conflicting human desires. Drawing from multiple disciplines, he highlights underlying structures in daily life. For CUI, algorithms act as invisible shaping forces, leading people into cycles of consumption, rendering contemporary existence fragmented and overstimulated.

03. Yinuo LI

Yinuo LI (b. 2000, China) is a London-based artist. She completed her MFA in Painting at the Royal College of Art and obtained her BFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. Her works transform the canvas into a living, organic entity where space and animated dimensions are gently balanced. Each composition unfolds through narratives between objects, with forms defined, blurred, and reprocessed to achieve harmony. Navigating cracks in an irregular world, she blurs boundaries between reality and illusion. Her layered paint mimics infinite textures of memory, allowing microscopic and macroscopic elements to coexist. She views painting as translation, transmuting the internal and literal into the external and visual. Her work encourages sensation, memory, and psychological depth where metaphor slips into abstraction, logic yields to poetic resonance, and the unconscious emerges within a painted terrain.

04. Marc TRUCKENBRODT

Marc Truckenbrodt (b. 1998, Jena, Germany) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and is pursuing an MFA at HFBK Hamburg. He lives and works between Hamburg and Hangzhou. His practice merges formal, epic storytelling with a poetic aim to create dynamic, layered relationships. Rooted in emotions, experiences, and literature, which he sees as both means and end, his work explores the search for individual identity across painting, drawing, printmaking, and comics. Truckenbrodt’s paintings emerge from his perception of the present and its shaping interrelations. He regards them as symbolic narratives—poetic expressions that gently extend beyond rationality to reflect on life’s complexities. He explores whether individuals can retain autonomy within constructed systems of power and ideology.

05. Ziang YIN

Ziang YIN (b. 1997, Anhui, China) graduated from the Affiliated High School of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2018 and is currently studying at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. His paintings move between refined and mundane, compassionate and optimistic, blending personal memories, art history, and contemporary imagery to depict his self-aware world. Recently, animals and plants have become key motifs, symbolizing memories and stories. YIN’s work explores the space between abstraction and figuration, inviting both aesthetic pleasure and reflective introspection. As he says, “As twilight falls, with the whisper of nocturnal creatures, I chase the intoxication of Bacchus and the lucidity of Apollo.”

06. Elizabeth NAGYPATAKY

Elizabeth Nagypataky (b. 1970, Paris) is a sculptor whose practice bridges art and medicine. Originally trained in biochemistry, she rediscovered her passion for art while studying modeling at New York University. Returning to Paris, she earned a Master’s in Sculpture from the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués de Duperey. Drawing on her sculptural expertise, she works with individuals suffering muscular deficiencies, using art as restoration and care. Her work has been exhibited at Galerie Onemain, Atelier Galerie d’Erika Gagé, Galerie Franklin, Galerie du Maurin, and is currently shown at Galerie Magdeleine, rue des Beaux-Arts, Paris.

About Us

FanFlus @fanflus

FanFlus is a cross-cultural curatorial collective with a global perspective, aimed at supporting contemporary artists from the post-90s, Millennial, and Generation Z. Rooted in a nomadic ethos of fluidity and inclusiveness, FanFlus values cross-cultural narratives, interdisciplinary exploration, and experimental curatorial methods. It focuses on sharing the practices of emerging artists across borders.

Based in New York and Paris, our team brings together expertise in cross-cultural curatorial visions. Through academically rigorous and conceptually experimental projects, FanFlus encourages dialogue among artists, curators, researchers, and collectors. Through artistic practice, we zoom in on the challenges and aspirations shared by our generation. Adapting through uncertainty, we collaborate in exploring the present and acknowledge the complexities ahead.