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Author: Liang Shaoji Dec,2020

The word ECO originates from ancient Greece and means “home”, “family”, “temple” or environment, as well as the earth and the universe. Since the 1960s, the global ecological environment is on the verge of crisis, the air, soil and water are seriously polluted, many species are becoming extinct, and the green planet is being trampled. When the ecological balance was lost, which in turn directly threatened the survival of human beings, it inspired human beings to reflect on man and nature, thus giving rise to ecological art. Ecological art is different from the traditional landscape paintings that eulogize nature, but asks about the true meaning of the relationship between nature and life, the natural environment on which human beings depend, and the organic resources for sustainable development. With the rapid advancement of contemporary biotechnology, genetics has unlocked the mysteries of life and promoted the vital art, making it a branch of ecology.

In fact, in ancient China, the depths of ecology were understood. Laozi’s “Tao models itself after nature” and “The Tao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it)”, and Zhuangzi’s “Qiwu (the Equality of Things)” and “Following the rule of nature, taking advantage of what is already there.” is not only ecological philosophy, but also ecological aesthetics. Later, Heidegger proposed “Full of merit, yet poetically, man dwells on this earth.”, which, despite its utopian overtones and inaccessibility, inspired human beings to get closer to the earth.

The deeper “ecological self” is “ecological self-identity”, “the psychological exploration of man and the environment”. Environmental issues not only focus on the environment itself, but also reveal its intrinsic connection with people’s perceptions, emotions, and behavioral values, encouraging people to see themselves as part of the vibrant earth’s ecosystem, rather than standing at the top of the ecological pyramid, dominating the world, terribly self-conceited - anthropocentrism.

Of course, we now often refer to the orderly and continuous movement and development between society, production, and other things as “ecology”. I think this is a kind of wisdom, a philosophy and a perspective, a kind of broad reference, gained from the revelation of nature. Life, vitality, dynamism, potential, existence, including the cycle of life and death in the rise and fall of society, confrontation and harmony… All of these are the “Tao”; it is the “socialization of nature”.

In my solo exhibition “A Silky Entanglement” to be held in 2021, the above reflections are melded into my work. At the entrance of the exhibition, the shape of the escalator is modified to imply the shape of a writhing silkworm, allowing the audience to gradually see the world and society under the perspective of a silkworm, to enter the experience of “dreaming silkworm” and “silkworm’s dream”, and to chew on the works and the “field” constructed by the rich metaphors...

Related Artists:
LIANG SHAOJI 梁绍基

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