\u001cI left my hometown \/ My hometown appears,\u001d begins a poem by Shuling Guo titled \u001cTemple II,\u001d which shares its name with her forthcoming solo exhibition at Hollis Taggart in New York. Rooted in sacred symbolism and the natural world, Guo\u0019s dreamlike, symmetrical paintings reflect on growing up in Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, China\u0014an area known for its intricate blend of spiritual and folk traditions\u0014and trace themes of memory, presence, and loss. The body, including the mind, is regarded by the artist as a temple that binds physical sensation to psychological and emotional experience.<\/p>\n
Guo\u0019s earliest encounters with ceremony in Guangdong, where Daoist and Buddhist practices coexist with local customs, form an enduring matrix for her visual language. \u001cGuo made frequent visits to her village temple, where local wood carving, murals, and sculpture became part of her visual memory,\u001d the gallery says. The paintings\u0019 production coincided with the birth of her daughter and the death of her grandmother, and their imagery\u0014burgeoning blossoms, delicate flames, and glowing ribbon-like tendrils\u0014meditates on beauty\u0019s transience and life\u0019s fragility. Religious imagery from the Early Renaissance shapes Guo\u0019s compositions, often through arch-like devices where flowers droop or birds rest, while her use of oil and colored pencil on linen over panel yields a diffused, otherworldly surface. The works have been noted for recalling the spiritualist canvases of Agnes Pelton, and orchids and other blooms carry intimations of sensuality and human anatomy not unlike Georgia O\u0019Keeffe.<\/p>\n
Hollis Taggart presents Temple II from October 15 through December 5, and the exhibition will include the artist\u0019s first mural, which transforms the gallery into an immersive, meditative space. Titled pieces shown include \u001cHalf of the Moon Anchors between Two Mountains\u001d (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 16 x 20 inches; \u001cPurple Glow\u001d (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 20 x 16 inches; \u001cPortrait X\u001d (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 12 x 12 inches; \u001cPortrait IX\u001d (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 24 x 12 inches; \u001cTune Is in the Tree II\u001d (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 30 x 24 inches; and \u001cPortrait VIII\u001d (2026), oil and colored pencil on linen over panel, 24 x 12 inches. In Guo\u0019s practice, the gallery notes, \u001cthese different visual traditions converge as a way of exploring devotion and ritual.\u001d<\/p>\n
Temple II distills personal history and collective ceremony into balanced, luminous images that hold grief and joy in equal measure\u0014an invitation to step through the arch of memory and dwell, briefly, in stillness.<\/p>\n