Shows at ShanghART and Bizart

There is a combined artists show at ShanghART, with our friends Zhou Tiehai, Shi Yong, and Yu Youhan and many others. There are a some interesting works in the show-- such as a wild millet-coated polyester sculpture by Wang Guanyi, titled "The Materialist" and collages by Xue Song. There is a really cool and colorful piece by Wei Guangqing, titled "The Zhu Family Instructions 19-24" that reminds me of a Justice song, with bright colors forming vertical stripes, creating the background for the everyday movements of moral righteousness as recorded in the ancient book of the Zhu Family Instructions, depicting figures similar to those seen in old Chinese scroll paintings. Each panel of moral instruction is labeled by a traditional saying that are timeless and can be applied universally, such as: "If others are experiencing good fortune, do not become jealous." I particularly enjoy this work because it mixes a kind of pop contemporary, modern culture, symbolizing the modern development of China fused with old traditional moral codes and standards. Wei does a great job incorporating the modern with ancient Chinese roots.

The Group Show at ShanghART Gallery runs from April 5, 2009 thru June 15, 2009.

(Photos courtesy of ShanghART Gallery: http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/exhibition.htm?exbId=2401)

Shi Yong's 'Yearning'

The visit to M50 to visit Xu Zhen and Shi Yong's studios was of course, a welcome privilege.  However, I wish that we could actually see their works before going to talk to them.  It seems that all the research I do on these artists is post-visit, which I think is unfortunate since it is much more difficult to contextualize these artists after I hear their words.  I like connecting these artists to his or her work, and without a proper introduction, their words float around in a cloud of abstraction that eventually disappear without the aid of context (such as knowing the artist's biography or seeing the artist's works).  I digress, but I still think this is a valid point that needs to be raised in order for us to make the most of our precious time with these artists.

That being said, I still enjoyed the visit.  Xu and Shi's words concerning their own artistic upbringings and their takes on the current landscape of contemporary art in China were immensely valuable, especially Xu when he talked about how he and his friends started basically from scratch, exhibiting in almost-impromptu gatherings at their apartments.

However, after doing post-visit research on these two artists, I really found Shi Yong's work to be striking, especially, the works from 2000 entitled "Yearning", which I speculate came as a result of his photo the previous year entitled "Does Every Chinese Person Have BLOND Hair?".  The aforementioned work and the works in the "Yearning" collection are family portraits depicting a typical Chinese family (a set of grandparents, parents, and one child--a boy), however, despite this seeming ordinariness of it all, the family members all have headfuls  of strawberry blonde hair.  It echoes this perpetually recurring theme of how China looks towards the West: for industry, culture, and in the context of art (and the particular family in this piece), for aesthetics.  The historical contexts of Western influences upon China have trickled down to the foundations of Chinese society: the family.  Yong's comment upon Chinese families finds itself at an axis that is at the explicit convergence of Western influence upon China and the current trend towards globalization.  However, underlying the creepily saccharine semblance of familial bliss comes a damnation upon the Western influences and the forces of globalization.  What Yong seems to be arguing is that the picture is actually a facade where hopes and and ambitions are nothing more than an attempt to normalize everyone to a Western standard (in this case, the blonde hair as a standard of beauty).

[Photo from Shanghart]

Becoming Eurotrash

I was momentarily jolted out of the mindlessness of our usual wednesday lecture yesterday by the guest lecturer introducing us to Shi Yong. Since there's always a high chance that A.) people are skipping the class or B.) no one is paying attention, I thought it might be fruitful for me to share this information with everyone else so that should you fall into category A or B, you can still share a piece of enlightenment. I'll be concise: I think Shi Yong's faux-commercialization is brilliant.

*ahem*


(Note: original image available here). So you're probably wondering who Shi Yong is and what gender he or she might be. Ok, no problem. I have you covered there. You can blame his audience for the gender discrepency as I'll attempt to explain from my understanding. Shi Yong is a Shanghai based artist, and a certifiably male (though you can't necessarily tell by looking at his eurotrash outfit as I'll explain later). From what I can see, I would say he has introduced a fake consumerist grapple over his own image - and subsequently marketed that image by incorporating it into most if not all of his future projects. Here's where the brilliant component comes in (at least I think so): considering that Shi Yong allowed westerners to critique his art by their own sense of aesthetics, he has effectively created a sort of consumer loop in feeding it back out to them. If Europeans find Shi Yong's pieces amusing for their outlandish fashion statements and/or marketing, they have only themselves to blame because they voted on his current outfit.

And about that Eurotrash outfit...




(Note: the original images for the above and to the right available here). Ah post-colonialism and the old world! What the hell were people thinking (specifically in Vienna from 1997-1998) when they chose his outfit? The cat's out of the bag at this point, as Shi Yong has taken his newfound image and run with it as far as he can. And my oh my how far he's gone! Even with my precursory glance there appear to be some really wonderful permutations of this European-bastardized faux-commercial image. Take the image to the right for example. The idea is nothing particularly new - we're all aware that we're slaves to our jobs and that our place in society strangles us by the limitations imposed by collectivization. That's nothing new, but what separates Shi Yong from the many others who have attempted to address this topic is his blatantly artificial image. His implementation is simply suitable for the subject by using a viewer-influenced and obviously artificial image. Rather than rehash the same painting repeatedly into ad-infinium as do some other Chinese painters who shall remain anonymous, Shi Yong purposefully molds his own molded image into new wonderfully urban mutations. This is the first time I've been really intruiged by a Chinese artist for the underlying social "message" as well as aesthetic value of the work itself, and I look forward to finding more satirical Shi Yong pieces in the future. In the meantime, if I hopefully convinced anyone else to check him out, a mini-biography is available at Shanghart, and the Bizart Shi Yong gallery is available here.

"It’s all right" in Hangzhou-opening December 15

Organizer: China Academy of Art, New Media Department
Co-organizer: Shanghai BizArt Art Center
Opening: December 15th, 2006, from 17:00 to 20:00

Curators: Geng Jianyi, Fan Li, Shen Ligong, Yang Zhenzhong, Xu Zhen
Participating artists:

Chen Xiaoyun, Chu Yun, Cui Shaohan, Feng Chen, Fei Pingguo, Geng Jianyi, He An, Huang Kui, Jiang Zhuyun, Jin Feng, Jin Feng (lao), Kan Xuan, Li Wen, Liu Wei, Peng Yun, Shao Yi, Shen Ligong, Shi Qing, Shi Yong, Sun Huiyuan, Sun Xun, Wang Xiaofeng, Wang Xin, Wu Juehui, Xu Zhen, Yang Lu, Yang Qingqing, Yang Zhenzhong, Zhang Ding, Zhang Ruyu, Zhang Lehua, Zhang Liaoyuan, Zhang Moyi, Zhang Peili, Zhang Xutao, Zhang Qing, Zheng Guogu, Zhong Su, Zhu Yu, Zhu Yun

Venue opening hours: December 16th to 20th, 2006
Everyday from 10:00 a.m. to 17:00
Venue: Hu Qing Tang Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine
No. 95, Da Jin Xiang, Qing He Fang, West Lake District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province
(Factory at the back of the group of ancient houses, at the feet of the mountain Wushan)
Website: http://www.nma.com.cn/nqnp/

The idea of organizing the contemporary art exhibition, "It’s all right", was suddenly decided as we found the perfect exhibition venue: an old factory of the Hu Qing Yu Tang Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine about to be demolished in the town center. The new media art department of the China Art Academy and BizArt Art Center took this decision in July and maintained the same dynamic attitude since then: from the concept of the show to its accomplishment, although the whole process lasted six months only. This wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of each of the participants. The main problem the exhibition has to face now is the unforeseeable elements. The new media art department of the China Art Academy and BizArt Art Center always focused on each artist’s progression in the production of their works. Each show include some risks: it is sometime uncertain for the artists themselves to know what the last shape of their works will be as they enter the exhibition room. The artworks projects were severely selected on the basis of various criteria of quality: the selection was sometime cruel to the point that it nearly violated art rules. This constitutes a particular aspect of this exhibition that can be seen before its opening. Here again, each artist showed their understanding and their responsibility sense when collaborating. This conscientious attitude exceeded all our expectations. Until now, the exhibition’s process and preparation was fully synchronized, which reveals the efforts of each of its participant.