http://www.shanghart.com/galleryarchive/feeds/lists ShanghART Gallery RSS0.92 feed en_US Copyright 2005, ShanghART Gallery. press@shanghartgallery.com webmaster@shanghartgallery.com http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/8751 by Cui Cancan "out": The Exhibition "Outside the Long Pavilion" by Jing Shijian The exhibition "Outside the Long Pavilion" draws its title from a well-known historical allusion that has been passed down through generations. It refers both to the opening line of the song "Farewell" with lyrics by Li Shutong and serves as an index to the body of works created by Jing Shijian—marking the beginning of an archaeological journey into knowledge. In the winter of 1914, old Shanghai was enveloped in desolation, with heavy snow falling across the city. Xu Huanyuan, a friend and like-minded companion of Li Shutong, was about to leave for Beijing with his family. At the time, social upheavals, revolutions, and prolonged conflicts had led to the decline of Xu’s once-prosperous family estate, pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy and plunging his life into poverty. Amid such a bitter winter, the impending separation carried an uncertain promise of reunion. On the occasion of their parting, Li Shutong composed the evocatively lyrical "Farewell" as a gift to Xu, expressing the profound sorrow of departure. Rather than merely a song, it can be understood as Li’s emotional projection through scenery—a poignant scene of parting, enduring friendship, and the timelessness of human experience, which spread throughout the land and left an enduring legacy in history. However, the exhibition does not focus on retelling this touching story in its conventional form. Nor does it dwell on the profound, serene beauty of the Long Pavilion, ancient paths, or twilight scenes often associated with "Farewell," or explore "parting" as a timeless theme in literature, film, and theater across human history. It also avoids recounting the legendary life of Li Shutong. Instead, Jing Shijian turns his attention to the prequel of this story—the history before "Farewell" came into being. In 1905, while studying in Japan, Li Shutong encountered the widely popular song "Homesickness" ("Ryoshū"). Deeply moved by its poignant and elegant melody, Li, longing for his homeland in a foreign land, found the initial inspiration for his own creation. Years later, borrowing the melody of this song, Li wrote new lyrics, giving birth to the universally known "Farewell." Interestingly, however, this widely sung Japanese song was not originally composed by a local musician. Its tune and prototype trace back even further—to Massachusetts, USA. During the American Civil War in the 19th century, composer John Pond Ordway wrote a song titled "Dreaming of Home and Mother." The war and opposition to racial systems lent the song a melancholic undertone. With its beautiful melody and heartfelt lyrics, performed by white singers in blackface, the song broke through the ideological barriers between North and South, becoming a classic of its time. Years later, Japanese composer Kyūkō Inudō adapted the tune with new lyrics, creating "Homesickness." Decades after that, through twists of fate and cultural exchanges, Li Shutong borrowed the melody to compose "Farewell," imbuing it with classical Chinese elegance and philosophical depth. Thus, a melody spanning centuries traversed multiple histories: the colonial past of Black people, the prolonged struggles of the Civil War, Japan’s Meiji-era Westernization, and the cultural awakening and national consciousness of China’s first-generation intellectuals during the early 20th-century social revolution and New Culture Movement. These varied versions of the story, along with local adaptations shaped by regional contexts and the ambiguous life trajectories of its protagonists, endowed "Farewell" with a renewed state and vitality. It is this extensive history that captures Jing Shijian’s interest, prompting him to retrace this convoluted journey through "painting as archaeology." However, Jing is not concerned with a comprehensive, grand historical narrative or the meticulous scrutiny and串联 of vast historical materials as a historian might undertake. His focus is not on history itself but on the process through which history transforms into knowledge and experience. He is intrigued by the turning points in stories—where our narratives and knowledge originate, what drives the shifts in their values, truths, and falsehoods, when established concepts change, what triggers these changes, and how we perceive such transformations afterward. In other words, Jing’s interest in the archaeology of knowledge and the manifold "changes" experienced by "Farewell" also touches upon the mysteries of art: How does a once-flourishing art movement emerge? What leads to the rise of certain aesthetics and values, and how do they redefine and expand our understanding of art? What causes the decline of an art movement, ending certain artistic possibilities and formal transformations while giving birth to new languages and ideas? If we were to interpret "Outside the Long Pavilion" or Li Shutong solely through conventional lenses—categorizing them as an old tale of classical elegance, Zen-like contemplation, and life’s vicissitudes—we would risk oversimplification, overlooking the complexity and ambiguity inherent in cultural translation. Similarly, if we were to reduce the artist’s engagement with history, knowledge, and philosophy in his works to mere explanations of painting, treating painting’s function and meaning as illustrative diagrams or annotated footnotes, we would both overestimate and underestimate the medium. The story of "Farewell" serves only as an index for Jing Shijian’s creations, and Li Shutong is not a mere reflection of Jing’s personal spirit. The artist operates within a far more intricate system of knowledge and visual transformation. Unlike historians who strive for comprehensive descriptions, Jing is more interested in fragments of history—fragments that materialize as objects in his paintings: the Long Pavilion from the opening of "Farewell," the musical score of "Dreaming of Home and Mother," the faces of blackface performers, flowers from the earliest staged production of La Traviata in China, and the spring water from Hupao Temple where Li Shutong took monastic vows. These momentary images from different historical stages transform into fragmented, scattered, and dreamlike landscapes, still lifes, and figures in Jing’s works. Similar to yet distinct from postmodern philosophy, Jing consistently seeks fragments within complete stories. He extracts isolated "words" from sentences, liberating them from their narrative functions and stripping them of contextual meaning to return to their original state as "roots." However, these "roots" in Jing’s works differ from philosophical notions of returning to zero or neutrality. Instead, they manifest as objects, to which painting restores faces, emotions, warmth, and sensations—granting them artistic imagination. This process of generating imagination and perception lies at the core of painting’s allure: a visual process akin to "mold formation," beginning with an initial creative idea sparked by Li Shutong and "Farewell," evolving into a painting concept through the archaeology of knowledge, and further extending through associations, expansions, disruptions, analogies, and boundless growth during creation—all corresponding to variables in form, proportion, color, composition, and brushwork within the painting. Like a chemical reaction between thought and visual movement, it is ultimately the artist who governs the relationships among objects, the coherence of the narrative, and the rationale behind concluding a painting or a story. Only in this sense can we comprehend the objects in Jing Shijian’s paintings that are both related and unrelated to "Farewell." In the artist’s archaeological exploration and associative thinking, several oversized tomatoes, scattered guavas, and a few golden corn kernels—originally exotic species—share a similar history and fate with "Farewell." They all traversed long distances, crossed oceans, arrived in China, and underwent prolonged processes of innovation and重组 to become familiar elements in our lives, flowing through our historical experiences as symbols and embodiments of shared memory. Yet, imagination always has the power to disrupt logic, and chance often gives rise to entirely new meanings in painting. In the artist’s depictions and imagination, Li Shutong’s cross-dressing in the Western classic La Traviata bears an uncanny resemblance to the appearance, identity, and fate of Leslie Cheung in Farewell My Concubine, sharing a conspiratorial gaze. Similarly, a pot of lilies from a still of La Traviata is magnified in another of Jing’s paintings, symbolizing everlasting love while echoing earlier narratives of identity and romance. If the archaeology of knowledge is Jing Shijian’s creative path, then imagination, analogy,串联, and the regrowth of stories constitute his syntax. Yet, approaching this syntax requires returning to another core characteristic of Jing’s practice: the hybrid use of artistic languages. Early training in Soviet-style painting and realism equipped Jing with exceptional technical skills, allowing him to masterfully shape his canvases while anticipating transformative changes. Unlike realism, however, Jing incorporates techniques from European Symbolism, where exotic fruits, crops, lakes, and rice fields symbolize narrative, emotion, and historical change. Yet, these elements refuse to coalesce into complete stories. Conceptual art enables Jing to treat the scattered, intersecting, and conflicting relationships among objects as intentionally arranged narrative structures, thereby disrupting the coherent narratives of realism and classicism. Modernism and formalism have broadened the horizons and richness of Jing’s visual language, where one can discern the lingering influences of traditional Chinese painting, German Neo-Expressionism, and the Leipzig School—a fusion of intense European metaphysical spirit and the traditional humanistic landscapes of Hangzhou. 然而，想象又总是能打破逻辑，偶然性总能在绘画中生发出全新的寓意。在艺术家的描绘和想象里，李叔同在西方经典剧作《茶花女》中男扮女装的方式，与张国荣在《霸王别姬》中的装扮、身份与命运，冥冥之中有着某种相似的情形，共谋的眼神。同样，《茶花女》剧照中的一盆百合花，在井士剑另一件画作中被放大，它成了爱情百年好合的象征，却又呼应着前文中身份与爱情的故事。如果知识考古是井士剑创作的路径，那么想象、比拟、串联，故事的再次生长，就是井士剑使用的语法。但接近于这种语法的方式，却是要回到井士剑的另一个核心特征，对艺术语言的混合性使用。早期的苏派绘画和写实主义训练了井士剑超群的技艺，以让画面的塑造变的游刃有余，期待变革的来临。但与现实主义不同，井士剑又借用了欧洲象征主义的手法，那些来自于异域的水果、作物，湖泊、稻田，象征着叙述、情感和历史的变迁。但它们之间又不愿组成完整的故事，观念艺术使得井士剑将物象之间散落、交叉、冲突的关系，作为有意安排的叙述结构，以打破现实主义和古典主义的完整叙事。现代主义和形式主义开阔了井士剑画面语言的视野和丰富性，我们在其中可以看到中国传统绘画和德国新绘画、莱比锡画派的如影随形，那种浓烈的欧洲形而上学精神和杭州传统人文风景之间的结合。然而，这些混合性语法的使用，并非来自于艺术史的教条，而是井士剑个人的经验和自由意识。对追求固定风格和强化艺术特征的厌恶，井士剑的创作每隔几年便变化一种全新的样貌，他并不追求某种艺术“成功”的策略，也不愿固定在任何单一的主题中。他的画作总是有着自己结束的依据，有时寥寥几笔，词便可达义，有时反复描绘，相隔多年，只是为了接近一种更高的形而上感受。 但更多时候，他有着一个艺术家特有的才能和天分，在他和我的交谈中，那些前后并不相关的逻辑，随时跳闪的思绪中，他讲述哲学的漏洞里，散发出个体与自由想象的魅力：他经由《送别》曲调的原产地马塞诸塞州，想到那里风景与他的老家东北有着同样的纬度，它们的农田盛产同样的作物，而他如今生活的西湖与夜晚归家的虎跑路，又神奇的借着李叔同的典故，连成一片绘画的大陆。 --- Yet imagination always has the power to disrupt logic, and chance often gives rise to entirely new meanings in painting. In the artist’s depiction and imagination, Li Shutong’s cross-dressing in the Western classic La Traviata bears an uncanny resemblance—in appearance, identity, and fate—to Leslie Cheung’s role in Farewell My Concubine, as if sharing a conspiratorial gaze. Similarly, a pot of lilies from a still of La Traviata is magnified in another of Jing Shijian’s paintings, becoming a symbol of enduring love while also echoing earlier narratives of identity and romance. If the archaeology of knowledge is Jing Shijian’s creative path, then imagination, analogy, juxtaposition, and the regrowth of stories constitute his syntax. Yet approaching this syntax requires returning to another core feature of Jing’s practice: the hybrid use of artistic languages. Early training in Soviet-style painting and realism equipped him with exceptional technical skill, allowing him to shape the canvas with ease while anticipating transformation. Unlike realism, however, Jing borrows techniques from European Symbolism—where exotic fruits, crops, lakes, and rice fields come to symbolize narrative, emotion, and historical change. Yet these elements refuse to coalesce into complete stories. Informed by conceptual art, Jing treats the scattered, intersecting, and conflicting relationships among objects as deliberately arranged narrative structures, thereby breaking the coherent storytelling of realism and classicism. Modernism and formalism have broadened the horizons and richness of his visual language, in which one may trace the lingering presence of traditional Chinese painting, German Neo-Expressionism, and the Leipzig School—a fusion of intense European metaphysical spirit and the traditional humanistic landscape of Hangzhou. Yet this hybrid syntax does not derive from art-historical dogma but from Jing Shijian’s personal experience and free consciousness. Averse to pursuing a fixed style or reinforcing artistic tropes, Jing’s practice transforms every few years into an entirely new visual language. He does not seek a strategy for artistic “success,” nor does he confine himself to any a single theme. His paintings always carry their own logic of completion—sometimes achieving meaning with just a few strokes; at other times, through layered reworking over years, merely to approach a higher metaphysical sensation. More often, however, he possesses the unique talent and instinct of an artist. In conversations with me, amid seemingly disconnected logics and associative leaps of thought, he would reveal the charm of individual and free imagination through the very gaps in philosophical discourse: from the origin of the “Farewell” melody in Massachusetts, he would connect the shared latitude between its landscapes and his hometown in Northeast China, where farmlands yield similar crops; and the West Lake where he now lives and the Hupao Road he travels nightly would, through the allusion to Li Shutong, magically merge into one vast continent of painting. 2026-01-10 16:13 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7390 ShanghART Shanghai (West Bund) is pleased to present Su Chang’s solo exhibition "Across", opening on 18 May 2024, featuring the artist’s latest plaster sculptures, which will also be the last exhibition of the space. Su Chang has been working loosely in recent years. He wandered into cities and nature, exploring the hidden unconscious movements, and reacting to a constantly changing external environment. The new series of works reveals how Su comprehends the "gesture" of river movement. The submerged or emergent riverbeds, islands, streams, and slopes are reformed through multiple displacements, analogies, and translocations, where the gestures of the body and the objects are extended, thus the artist’s attitude is shaped. Island (2024) is a representation of the “invisible”, the flattened, enlarged, and folded material is a projection of perception between "I" and space. Therefore, the self-image in Self Reading (2024) again confirms the cross-species "ecology of selves" mentioned above and echoes the artist's series of “Interim Space”, which are based on Su’s independent work. These works are exhibited just before the relocation of the gallery's West Bund space as if they are looking out to the flowing Huangpu River afar. Su Chang's sculpture is not a "result" but a "process" mixed with experience and memory, a channel to "Across", an intermediary/interim structure for entry (or escape). It is a "process" mixed with experience and memory. Within a wider spatial and temporal context created by the artist, the relationship between the sculpture and the flux of the outside world is constantly reshaped by the viewer's gaze. 2024-05-15 17:48 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7254 百达摄影奖 x 蒋鹏奕独家专访 百达摄影奖：您的摄影生涯是如何开始的？是什么激发了您对摄影的兴趣？ 蒋鹏奕：我小的时候家里有一台海鸥相机，父母同事会拍照，教我玩。后来上工艺美校（高中），我学会了冲洗、放大照片、暗房技巧，白天的拍东西，当晚就可以看到。从那个时候起，摄影已经是我日常生活的一大部分了。 百达摄影奖： “不被注册的城市”系列呈现了一种充满超现实却又令人担忧的氛围。您是如何想到把缩小的大楼放在拆迁工地这样的理念？挑选其中的大楼或者工地时，你有什么标准？ 蒋鹏奕：这可能跟我最后一次上班经历有关系，2000年后，北京城市化改造建设非常猛烈，房地产业十分火爆，我加入一家房地产广告公司，职务是摄影师，经常去城市建设规划局，和各种地产开发公司，可以看到不同大小的沙盘，有整个区域的，也有单个项目的规划设计，都是俯视整个微观城市，每次看到沙盘便有这样的体验：现在以上帝视角观看一座蚂蚁般的城市，而同时身在其中的自己觉得是一座超级大城市。意识离开了身体，基于有这样的体验，后来才明确的把整个城市缩小，放入一个微小的工地角落里。 百达摄影奖：您早期的作品经常涉及建筑和城市景观。是什么吸引了你以此为主题？您是如何通过摄影来传达您对城市变迁和发展的思考？ 蒋鹏奕：还是因为之前从事地产广告摄影师的经历关系很大，每天接触的都是城市规划、拆和建。那个时候我也年轻，有乌托邦似的想象未来，但我进入各种拆迁现场，会有另外一种现实，从来就没有永恒的事物。 百达摄影奖：“自有之物”系列展示了对光线和材料的独特运用。您可以分享这个系列的灵感和创作过程吗？一般拍摄一件作品需要多久？ 蒋鹏奕：拍这个系列，是读《圣经》给我的启示，如何把人纯粹的精神性投射到日常物品中，让其发光又自然般显示出来。先是选择身边最长用的物品，烛台，椅子，每天躺的床铺等等，浇注混合有荧光粉的热蜡，等冷却后，长时间曝光。因为用的是低感光胶片，长时间曝光，最少都是一小时起，长的也有六小时。 百达摄影奖：摄影是一种相对瞬间的艺术形式，而您的作品常常凝聚时间、记忆和人类存在。您对这些主题有何特别的兴趣？您希望通过摄影来传达给观众什么样的信息或情感？ 蒋鹏奕：其实我一直坚持用135、120扫街快拍，拍周围朋友，135基本上随时带，看到一个有意思的场景，第一反应是拍下来，在偶然的角度，真实记录。每年会拍超过三十卷以上，虽然不多，但也拍了一、二十年了，这些照片也是凝聚了时间、记忆和存在，许多年之后，都会是曾经的人和曾经的记忆。希望在未来，留下一点现在人的痕迹。对于我做主题照片，也是在一个特定时间做出选择，也是真实的记录，一段表达不出来的思考过程，如何用摄影图片呈现出来，使之传播，可以沟通被理解。 百达摄影奖：你觉得自己的身份是摄影师、艺术家，还是两者皆是？因为在您较近期的作品中，摄影更像是您的表达方式，您不断突破摄影的材料、标准和方法，您认同这样的理解吗？你觉得摄影对你而言的意义是？ 蒋鹏奕：什么身份对我来说不重要，别人带帽子是别人的事。如果说是在做对摄影有突破性的工作，还不如说是以摄影为工具来探索自己认知和观念的开放自由度和勇敢度。摄影对我来说，首先它是可以让我全心扑上的的媒介，另外一个重要原因是，它能够呈现不可见、不可说，但我们深受其影响的东西。对我个人方法来说，每开始做新系列照片实验时，越混乱越有更多可能性，我不会复制已成型的思维模式和可以表达的观念来做东西，或者根本不按标准来做，我相信人类开放的思考方式，会让人更有创造力。摄影对我而言，它不能只是这样，是通往更自由的路。 百达摄影奖：您的创作三次被提名百达摄影奖，包括“混乱”（Disorder）、“力量”（Power）和“增长”（Growth），你如何看待可持续发展？你觉得作为艺术家/摄影师，可以如何或者有必要关注和探讨这样宏大的议题吗？ 蒋鹏奕：这三个主题词，现在我个人看来是一个循环往复的有机整体，可以连成完整的句子，同时也可以反过来，互为因果，不管是人内心状态，还是外部国际国内大环境。对内，我们都有不同时期的混乱，会生长出不同的力量得到解决方案；对外，摄影师或者艺术家虽然是独立个体，但不能独立于这个一个连续整体外，我们生在其中。 百达摄影奖：能分享您目前正在创作的作品或者近期展览计划吗？ 蒋鹏奕：2023年底拍摄完成了大尺幅《侵蚀》系列照片，正在扫描修图调色中。今年年中，新书《草尾》会出版，是在疫情三年里多次往返一个南方小镇的街拍照片，又根据书里内容，改编完成了一部同名双屏录像。新书发行时，会同步展出。 百达摄影奖：随着数字技术的进步，您认为摄影在未来会有哪些变化？这些变化将如何影响您个人的创作方式和艺术实践？ 蒋鹏奕：过去的二十几年我们经历过数码相机普及，手机高清镜头人人都有，AI生成图片，各种APP修改图片，大家已经不再耽于技术和工具了，对摄影的理解和可靠性需要重新认识。但过去十多年里，我没用数码相机拍自己的东西，只要还有胶片，我坚定选择胶片拍东西。 2024-03-13 15:41 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7245 ShanghART Shanghai is delighted to present the group exhibition "The Imagery Between Lines and Paper" from 27 January to 3 March, featuring a selection of paper-based works by 24 artists and artist groups in various styles. Themed "The Imagery Between Lines and Paper", the exhibition invites the audience to enter the six parallel sections via any of the tour routes to explore the rhetorical role of paper as a natural material, a condensed image, or a narrative medium in the artists' practice. Among the diverse forms of the works, “the paper without words” acts as a new visual language, illustrating the artists' uninhibited work that collaborates with paper. Paper is born from plants, which also gives its unique plasticity — "Wrinkles" emphasizes that paper breaks through its material boundaries with the artists' external force, leading to a new dimension of time and space; "Paper as Plants" makes paper an extension of life in addition to the natural essence in a series of works representing plants. In "Portraying Objects" and "Abstract", the paper condenses the artists' unique visual language, in which the artists capture figures and objects and construct abstract patterns with symbol-based elements. The artists’ fictional pictorial narrative also unfolds on paper — in "Scenarios", the paper is a two-dimensional stage that sets the plots in motion; while in the "Unfinished Tales", the image is extended from photographs to drawing paper, where the artists stretch their imagination by employing approaches of cutting, collage, extension, etc. 2024-02-26 14:45 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7611 《看得见风景的房间——当代语境下的中国风景摄影》学术刊物于2023年5月由浙江摄影出版社正式出版（该书为观看当代艺术中心出品的学术出版物系列《观看十年》之五，该系列出版物在第十届大理国际影会上被评为金翅鸟最佳出版物大奖），第五届兰州国际影像双年展同名主题展也于2023年7月8日在兰州市雁儿湾当代美术馆举办，本平台将陆续推出所有艺术家的参展作品。 整个主题展分为四个单元。第一单元：山水的流转——东方图式的记忆与重构；第二单元：现场即风景——来自实在的虚构；第三单元：观念与文献；第四单元：媒介性 ——材料与技术的探索。 媒介性 ——材料与技术的探索 第四单元 幽暗之爱 蒋鹏奕 这个系列的照片采用物影印像法长时间曝光制作而成。几只、数十只或者数百只萤火虫，装入有黑白胶片的暗箱中，任它们自由爬行或者飞行，持续地发出求偶的闪光信号。在其短暂的生命期里，萤火虫在底片上留下某一段或者一生的，可见的生命轨迹。 作品收录 | 蒋鹏奕系列作品收录于由浙江摄影出版社所出版的《看得见风景的房间——当代语境下的中国风景摄影》，本书共收录了39位中国艺术家的当代语境下的中国风景摄影与多媒体作品。 2024-09-15 17:51 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7204 Opening: 7 November. 2023 4pm Duration: 7 November. - 23 December. 2023 Location: ShanghART M50, Bldg 16, 50 Moganshan Rd., Putuo District, Shanghai, China ShanghART M50 is delighted to announce "Transition", a solo project by artist Liu Yi, which is the premiere of the artist's video work "When I Fall Asleep, My Dreams Come", which has been in preparation for many years. The exhibition will open on November 7th and run until December 23rd. Human contemplation of consciousness, existence, and the universe has never ceased since ancient times. The artist finds himself increasingly entering the same type of dreams, akin to the phenomenon of "information cocoons" in real life. In these dreams, the perceptual system guides the content based on one's historical behavior and interests, thereby limiting the diversity within the dream world. The work draws creative inspiration from dreams and multiple realities. The production of the ink and wash animation employs frame-by-frame hand-drawing techniques, taking two years and involving tens of thousands of sketches. It invites the audience to enter the intersection of dreams and reality, immersing themselves in the misty, sorrowful drizzle of old houses in the Jiangnan region. The approximately 5-minute ink and wash animation, "When I Fell Asleep, My Dream Came," portrays an endless loop of dreams that shackle oneself in a state of melancholy. The frame-by-frame ink and wash animation flickers on the screen, sketching elusive memories and perceptions. The imagery freezes in a moist state before the rice paper dries, each flowing frame subtly alluding to tear-filled sorrow. This is further connected to the twinkling rain lines in the spatial installation, constructing a tapestry of genuine emotion and fantastical recollection. Though consciousness is not material, it has become a mysterious particle dependent on a material foundation. It serves as a conduit to the external world, allowing us to reach another space. Dreams thus become the interwoven link between our memories and parallel universes. When we dream of past experiences, we are communicating with another self in a parallel universe who shares common memories with us. Each dream becomes an experience of our alter ego in another parallel universe. I hope this translation captures the essence and nuances of the original text. 2023-11-21 18:19 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7246 Opening: January 9, 2024 16:00 Exhibition Period: January 9 - March 09, 2024 Location: ShanghART M50, Bldg 16, 50 Moganshan Rd., Putuo District, Shanghai, China ShanghART M50 is launching a special project that is not just solo or group exhibitions, focusing on the presentation of a singular subject within an overall context. Artists, as the subjects, extract emotions and philosophical reflections from the repetitive treatment of a single object, compressing them into the embrace of the subject. This project presents only one artist and one subject in the same time and space, with chapters transitioning and evolving. The things that capture the interest of artists are fixed others. These others often exist in the most inconspicuous ways in daily life (even becoming abandoned objects). Depicting these others requires a long time of gazing and devoutly waiting for a response that awakens from within the object. This response is enough to separate it from its original context and unearth it, allowing the artist to reimagine and shape it from their subjective perspective, merging with this other. The process involves fluidity and control, ultimately endowing it with eternal spiritual attributes. Liu Weijian: Sofa Exhibition Dates: February 3, 2024 - March 2, 2024 During this period, beds and sofas have become the focal point of the artist's attention, especially the red sofa in the studio, which intersects with every visitor who enters. This ordinary and common piece of furniture becomes a tangible symbol of individual life. Covered and revealed, collapsing like memories in a space-time tunnel, the artist emphasizes the projection of the individual's most familiar existence. Life activities leave profound imprints on the sofa, allowing the audience to perceive the existence of life. It also witnesses the artist's shift of focus from macro-sociality to the specific states of individuals in life. The sofa carries people, yet their physical forms are absent due to their departure, leaving behind traces of their existence. The artist does not strive to create an atmosphere but rather waits for the sudden cessation that comes from the beyond. They do not intentionally capture light and shadow but rather invite them to enter the urn. In the glaring and contrasting color relationships, the artist subtly hints at a certain concrete state. Wu Yiming: Shepherd's Purse Exhibition Dates: January 9, 2024 - January 27, 2024 In Wu Yiming's recent works, there is a greater focus on private and everyday objects of contemplation. The shepherd's purse, a wild vegetable beloved by the Chinese, possesses the simplest and unadorned appearance. Under Wu Yiming's ink, it sometimes emits a vibrant and blossoming state of life, while at other times, it becomes a wilted remnant left behind. 2024-02-27 11:04 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7203 Artists: Han Mengyun Opening: 4pm, 5 Nov. 2023 Duration: 5 Nov. - 7 Jan. 2024 (11am-6pm, Mon. Closed) Location: ShanghART Shanghai, 1F, Bldg. 10, 2555 Longteng Avenue, Xuhui District, Shanghai, China ShanghART is pleased to present the artist Han Mengyun’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, “The Unending Rose”, which opens on November 5, 2023. Borrowing its title from the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges’ eponymous poem, the exhibition will bring together the artist’s most recent paintings, works on paper, as well as architectural and video installations. In the poem, through the Sufi poet Attar of Nishapur who gazes at the rose, a symbol trapped in the finitude of human language, Borges discovers the literary infinity of the rose, which perennially accrues meaning via the course of migration and the collective act of retelling. Inspired by transcultural literary traditions and the subsequent semantic transformation, Han Mengyun shares with Borges such belief in the potential of infinity represented by the rose. At the heart of the exhibition lies the “mirror pavilion,” an architectural installation inspired by an ancient tale of “The competition between Chinese and Rum artists” retold in Khamsa by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. The story goes that Alexander the Great, hearing that both the Romans and the Chinese were famous for their painting, wanted to see who in the world was the best. He then summoned a Roman and a Chinese painter to compete in the royal hall on two opposing walls. By the end of the competition, two identical paintings emerged. The Roman painting was splendid in its incredible realism and vividness while the Chinese painter did not paint but simply polished the wall into a mirror, through which the Roman’s painting across the room and the world were reflected. First shown in the inaugural Diriyah Biennale (2021), “The Pavilion of Three Mirrors” aims to render an abstract and poetic representation of this ancient story, which provides many insights into the different conceptions of visual representations between cultures. The work also sheds light on the premodern history of cultural exchange that goes unnoticed in our present time, while offering an alternative paradigm of image-making through the rediscovery of a shared legacy across cultures. In the second iteration The Unending Rose, the vaulted mirror installation not only represents the Chinese painter that polishes a mirror in the story but also a Borgesian mirror labyrinth, in which the path forks at every possibility of interpretation and decision of the viewer. Inspired by the visual configuration of book art – an early form of global media that forged trans-regional connections and shaped cross-cultural contacts – Han Mengyun’s paintings merge the formal characteristics of Buddhist and Islamicate manuscripts with elements drawn from Chinese and Japanese woodblock-printed books. This amalgamation of diverse influences is set against the backdrop of the material basis of the Western painting tradition, resulting in a rich transcultural visual hybridity. The eponymous painting series embodies such hybridity and the woodblock-printed ornamental borders suggest that the paintings are at the same time books. On the page that is the canvas, the rose is conceived as a signifier that forges a semantic connection between symbolic construction and the signified. As a product of language, the rose is bound to be reconfigured, the objectifying gaze displaced. Beyond traditional media such as painting and drawing, Han attempts to extend the word-image interplay peculiar to the book to contemporary media that provides a synesthetic experience. Her video installation, “Panchatantra,” explores disparate definitions of the mirror through five captivating videos, including “太初之时 (The Origin),” “梦 (Dream)," “کتاب书(Book),” “月的礼赞(In Praise of the Moon),” and “欲望 (Le Désir）,” which are projected onto a book stand designed by the artist, blurring the boundary between seeing and reading, language and (moving) image. In the poet’s endless incantation, the rose becomes infinite, like the repetition of prayer beads that render the shape of eternity. Following the footsteps of ancient poets, Han Mengyun returns to pre-modern pictorial, literary, philosophical and material manifestations of multicultural cross-pollinations, and by doing so, establishes the basis of a new paradigm of aesthetic pluralism that is necessary for imagining the coexistence of differences. 2023-11-21 15:56 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7198 ShanghART Singapore is proud to present This Moment Now is Past and Future All at Once, a group exhibition presenting the works of Anthony Chin, Dusadee Huntrakul, Ong Kian Peng, Ng Joon Kiat, Pratchaya Phinthong, and Miti Ruangkritya. Curated by John Z. W. Tung, the exhibition that opens on the 14 October 2023 consolidates a spread of contemporary art-making concerns that intimate the present’s indelible ties to that which has transpired and anxieties that are to come. Inspired by the German notion of Sehnsucht – a yearning for the redress of imperfect moments in life – Tung writes of the exhibition: The title of the exhibition, and its associations, is all that there is to it. It is an exhibition of art that is relevant in perpetuity, histories repeating themselves in our daily lives, technologies and the lack thereof, prophecies and regrets, but also unwavering hopes and optimism. The title, functioning as both an intimate whisper and a declarative statement, encapsulates the fluid relationship between what has been, what is, and what is yet to come. It underlines the perennial relevance of this collection of artworks which simultaneously mirrors and questions the cyclical nature of history, technology, prophecy, regret, hope, and optimism. In exploring the dichotomy of technologies and their conspicuous absence, the exhibition unveils the dialectics between advancement and tradition. The artworks presented bear witness to the innovative spirit of humanity and its relentless drive towards progress, while simultaneously heralding the loss of simplicity associated with a technologically naïve past. In such a light, the consequences of action and inaction are also brought to bear, set against the backdrop of the anthropogenic epoch. With each work in dialogue with another, the exhibition urges a contemplative pause, engaging viewers in reflecting on the pluralities of existence. Visitors to the exhibition can look forward to new works created specially for the exhibition from Anthony Chin, Dusadee Huntrakul, Ong Kian Peng and Pratchaya Phinthong. At the same time, the exhibition also offers opportunities for a re-animation of pickings from Ng Joon Kiat’s corpus of paintings, and the Singapore premiere of a selection of works from Miti Ruangkritya’s recent photographic series BLISS. The exhibition runs till the 26 November 2023. Members of the media and public are welcome to partake in the opening moment commencing at 4pm on the 14 October 2023. It is in no uncertain terms that art bears the weight of history. But to what end can it bear the weight of the ahistorical too? About the Artists Anthony Chin T W (b. 1969) is a designer turned visual artist who holds an MA in Industrial Design from the Royal College of Art in London. He creates site-specific and responsive artworks that poetically and conceptually respond to a given site's architectural presence and history. His works emerge from a process of extensive research, using common materials to invoke particular places with attention to their power structure and related implications. His interest lies in making visible inherent structures of power and hegemony that undergirds our daily existence, from the levels of individuals and nation states, so as to challenge prevailing narratives of life and social organisation under colonial and post-colonial eras. Dusadee Huntrakul (b. 1978) is a multi-disciplinary artist working across mediums of sculpture, ceramic, drawing, painting, and text. Seeking human connections that extend across time, his works span the topics of archaeology, anthropology, and basic urban ecological observation. Ever since seeing his late brother bring home funky fired ceramic pots made at a community college’s pottery class, something profound moved within him. He started working with clay almost twenty years ago at his uncle’s ceramic studio in Bangkok, and remains to this day, committed to using fired clay, language, and other materials to compose spaces that are familiar yet unknown. Ng Joon Kiat (b. 1976) is a painter who works with the material language of paint as thought and conceptual processes. He develops art researches from archives of disciplines such as geography, microscopic science, history, cartography, surgical history and city-planning to interrogate for a painting practice, which began in the late 1990s. Ong Kian Peng (b. 1981) is an artist whose work is situated at the intersection of art, technology and ecology. His research focuses on the imperceptibility of Climate Change, exploring immersive and synaesthetic expressions that broaden our consciousness toward the impending ecological disaster. Pratchaya Phinthong (b. 1974) works in the transitory spaces between systems, and his practice is underscored by themes of displacement and translation. Premised on collaborative processes, modes of exchange and the transfer of artistic agency, Pratchaya’s conceptually driven practice seeks to redefine the value and significance of art. Pratchaya's work translates his research—be they scientific discoveries, economic theories or even rumours—into experiential forms and gestures. He currently lives and works in Bangkok. Miti Ruangkritya (b.1981) is a visual artist whose photography practice expands into the realms of video, text, and publishing. A nobility of beauty can provoke a disturbing reality, Ruangkritya’s work has proven its capacity when audiences are put in the middle of beautiful ordeal. Raised in the UK, and returned to Bangkok in 2010, the artist noticed the city’s increasing urbanization and started documenting its rapid changes. He has produced immaculate photography focusing on the urban city, its development, and impact. A subtle sarcasm has also informed his commentary work on politics. About the Curator John Z.W. Tung is an independent curator and exhibition-maker. To date, his close work with artists has realised more than 50 artwork commissions and site-specific adaptations ranging from the minute to monumental. Serving as a co-curator for the Singapore Biennale 2016 and Singapore Biennale 2019, three of the artwork commissions he curated were finalists for the Benesse Prize, with one work winning the prestigious award. His recent appointments as an independent curator include Festival Curator for the 7th & 8th Singapore International Photography Festival (2020 & 2022) and Associate Curator for the Open House programme, For the House; Against the House (2021, 2022 & 2023), and The Forest Institute, a large-scale architectural art installation dedicated to secondary forest ecologies. In 2023, he was the recipient of the inaugural Tan Boon Hui Curatorial Prize. 2023-10-22 14:50 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/feeds/detail/7174 Artists: Chen Wei, Chen Xiaoyun, Li Shan, Liu Yi, Su Chang, Xu Zhen, Yao Qingmei Opening: 4 pm, 16 Sept 2023 Duration: 16 Sept. - 22 Oct. 2023 (11 am – 6 pm, Mon. Closed) Location: ShanghART Shanghai, West Bund, Bldg. 10, 2555 Longteng Avenue, Xuhui District, Shanghai, China ShanghART Shanghai is delighted to present the group exhibition "Mediated Body: Among Objects and Fields" on September 16, and will run through October 22. Bringing together works by 7 artists, Chen Xiaoyun, Chen Wei, Su Chang, Li Shan, Liu Yi, Xu Zhen, and Yao Qingmei, the exhibition investigates the body that acts as a medium in contemporary art to connect the artists’ will and the works. In the forms of paintings, sculptures, videos, and installations, the selection of artists in the exhibition applies diverse approaches to explore the perception and extension of the body interacting with objects and fields. By breaking the instrumental dominance of humans over things, the artists make the body a flow channel for perceiving the outside which connects humans and objects directly. In Chen Xiaoyun's image language, the partial body constitutes the image as a symbolic abstract element, producing a metaphorical narrative in the interaction with objects. Li Shan co-constructs the human body and animals in his "Bio-Art" which breaks the boundaries of human self-centeredness. Liu Yi's animation work "Burning" borrows the body as a spiritual transmitter to pass on fervency and passion. In the exhibition, the body actions involve people in certain environments, where artists may achieve a meshing between the consciousness and the spiritual space, physical space, and social space. In Chen Wei's artificial landscape, the traces of the body suggest the absence of people, while the ambiguous space implies fragments of realism. The plaster sculptures by Su Chang take the body as a sensational medium to reach the physical space, projecting the extending perception inward. On the other hand, the actions of the body intervene in social space. The video work "Shouting" by Xu Zhen, one of his representative early performance works, hides the actions behind the camera but still disturbs the crowd's order through shouting. Yao Qingmei's video work "Spectrum I" also intervenes in public space through the body, collaging the ballet dancer's gestures image with the real-time image from the phone held by her, forming a multi-layered intertextual relationship with historical images and continuously interrogating the established rules of power. 2023-09-18 15:19 ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease