Art News

2015-06
Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be internationalised @ Rockbund Art Museum
Organised by RAM and curated by Hou Hanru, the show, as part of the museum’s fifth anniversary celebrations, will feature large-scale installations, as well as sketches and notes by Shanghai-born artist, Chen Zhen (1955-2000), whose long-term life and work partner, Xu Min, is artistic consultant.
Largely recognised as one of the most important Chinese artists of the last two decades, Chen Zhen’s work and inspiration derives from his personal experience of travelling between his native city of Shanghai and Paris, responding to and engaging with contemporary social issues across different cultures.
 
The new exhibition will focus on Chen Zhen’s travels in and out of Shanghai during the 1990s, reflecting on the rapid changes of social reality within the city at this time. Chen Zhen frequently returned to Shanghai during this period and developed a series of new works responding to the changing social landscape as Shanghai established itself as a new global city. Large-scale installations on display, such as Le Bureau de change and Daily Incantations, reveal this interest in Shanghai’s urban and socio-economic developments and provide a commentary on the changing daily life Chen Zhen
witnessed.
 
Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be internationalised runs until 7 October @ Rockbund Art Museum. 20 Huqiu Lu, near Beijing Dong Lu. Tel: 3310 9985. Web: www.rockbundartmuseum.org
 
Liu Bolin Solo Show: The Distance To The Eyes @ Magda Danysz Gallery
For this series, Liu Bolin has hacked institutional websites where some images have been changed. He has taken away the original image to replace it with one of his. Barely visible, the artist hides in those pictures. The only thing one can see is the light in his hand. It is a light he tries to shed on reality.
 
By hacking institutional websites and changing one of their images, Liu Bolin wishes to reflect upon the internet era and where the real power lays. The series is like a performance inside the worldwide web.
 
Liu Bolin is part of this generation of Chinese artists who are very sensitive to political, economic, social and environmental transformations of their country. With his series "Hiding in the City", started in 2005, he became a national and international symbol, sometimes admired, sometimes controversial. His works, between "photography and performance" according to art critic Philippe Dagen, and reveals the delicate balance of our modern world. In this exhibition, Liu Bolin continues his own thinking on the evolution of the society and gives us a look particularly relevant on the contemporaneity. Nowadays recognised all over the world as one of the most famous photographers of his generation; Liu Bolin doesn’t lack of daring. This exhibition is an opportunity to discover all the talent of this great artist, from historical works to his most recent pieces.
 
Liu Bolin Solo Show: The Distance To The Eyes runs until 27 June @ Magda Danysz Gallery. 188 Linqing Lu, near Yangshupu Lu. Tel: 5513 9599. Web: www.magda-gallery.com
 
Wang Huangsheng solo exhibition ‘FLUX’ @ Pearl Lam Galleries
An exhibition of works by eminent artist and artistic director, Wang Huangsheng, include ink on paper, ink on newspaper, mixed media installations and video works. Wang, who is versed in classical forms of ink, will exhibit a range of expressive artwork that exudes a sense of expansive and creative energy.
 
Curated by Dr. Katie Hill, FLUX features Wang’s experimentation with the form of lines from the perspective of magnetism, which reinvents traditional ‘xie-yi’ painting using contemporary art language, and hints at the renewed cursive intertwining lines as a constant flux— a fluid, radiant energy in the realm of physics.
 
In his works, Wang presents the world as holistically, in poetic terms, reflecting his inner self ’s conflicting feelings when faced with complex realities. Wang wears many hats as Director of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum, curator and as an artist— roles that intertwine and diverge like the lines in his paintings. The exhibition showcases a selection of paintings from his Moving Visions, Lines Visions and Initiating Visions series, which he began creating in 2011. In his triptych Clue, Wang transitions from expressive xie-yi painting towards an exploration of pure formal elements in ink brush painting.
 
Wang Huangsheng solo exhibition ‘FLUX’ runs until 20 July @ Pearl Lam Galleries. G/F, 181 Jiangxi Lu, near Fuzhou Lu. Tel: 6323 1989. Web: www.pearllam.com
 
Oh My God @ LWH Gallery
O.M.G. – it is more than just an expression: It is a revulsion.
 
It is an endorsement. It is a compulsion. It is an idolization. The list goes on. It is such a commonly used phrase in the English language that it possesses an extensive breath of meaning and emotions.  The closest version in Chinese is “我的天啊!”, which literally means “Oh my Heaven!” But then the phrase carries a more limited spectrum of innuendos and emotions.
In China, the discussion of Gods, spirits and idols rarely surfaced and certainly not endorsed in the official media. For example, compared to the British or the American national anthem, we do not hear the word “God’ in the China’s national anthem. There is no state-sanctioned religious education. Any form of ‘idolisation’ of the supernatural is frowned upon. Ironically, the only form of such state-endorsed homage is a pledge of loyalty and passion for the party.
 
LWH Gallery is dipping its toes on the subject of ‘God and Idols’. They are presenting works by Chinese artists that share a common thread of personal explorations on the concept of ‘God’. Featured artists and works include “The Digital Idol by Chen Ke”, “Worship Me. Icon Me. By Ooorangeee” and “My Homage to Eternality – A Video Presentation by Lu De Sheng”.
 
Oh My God runs until 15 July @ LWH Gallery. Room 102, Building 14, G/F, 50 Moganshan Lu, near Xi Suzhou Lu. Tel: 187 0171 7975. Web: www.lwhgallery.com