Art News

2015-09
Erwin Olaf Solo Show @ Magda Danysz Gallery
Magda Danysz Gallery presents an important retrospective of the Dutch photographer, Erwin Olaf. Very active on the international artistic scene since the beginning of the 90s, this world-recognised aesthete offers a vision of photography that mixes styles and times. His pictures are real icons in which he establishes the contemporary society’s portrait through sophisticated set ups.
 
Erwin Olaf has been a picture creator for more than 25 years. A master in the art of staging, he creates his own stages conjuring up a real atmosphere. This retrospective presents Olaf ’s work for the first time in China. Through a very rich selection of works of all periods, Magda Danysz offers an exhaustive retrospective of the work of this virtuoso photographer. This is a unique occasion to discover an intense and very personal universe.
 
Erwin Olaf Solo Show runs from 12 September until 10 October @ Magda Danysz Gallery. 188 Linqing Lu, near Yangshupu Lu. Tel: 5513 9599. Web: www.magda-gallery.com

Rain Room By Random International @ Yuz Museum

Random International’s Rain Room is a monumental work that encourages people to become performers on an unexpected stage, while at the same time creating an intimate atmosphere of contemplation. This exhibition is an invitation to explore the roles that art, science, technology and human ingenuity can play in stabilising our environment. 
Rain Room was first presented at the Barbican in London (2012) and then at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013). It will be premiered in Asia at the Yuz Museum Shanghai.
 
Rain Room is a large-scale environment of perpetually falling water that ceases to pour wherever a person walks. Rain Room responds to the presence and behaviour of its participants, offering visitors a surreal environment and unique relationship with water. Exploring ecological challenges through art, this presentation of Rain Room also offers another perspective to the multi-layered Yuz Collection and the forthcoming programming of spectacular temporary exhibitions at the Yuz Museum.
 
Rain Room By Random International runs until 31 December @ Yuz Museum. 35 Fenggu Lu, near Longteng Dadao. Tel: 6210 5207
Neo-Perception: China’s New Generation of Women Artists @ Pearl Lam Galleries
Neo-Perception, a group exhibition that gathers the works of 24 young female Chinese contemporary artists, has been curated by Dr. Wang Chunchen and will show a prime selection of works from the artists’ oeuvres.
 
Participating artists are Gao Shan, Gao Sihua, Geng Xue, He Xiaochun, Ju Ting, Li Na, Li Zi, Lin Ran, Lin Xin, Liu Qianyi, Liu Ren, Liu Yujie, Luo Wei, Mi Yuming, Pei Li, Wu Chao, Wu Mengshi, Wu Silin, Yu Feifei, Zhang Yaning, Zheng Qi, Zhou Hongbin, Zhou Qiaoyun and Zhou Qingshan.
 
Neo-Perception embraces and confronts the imagery and language unique to art that reflects the diversity in women’s experiences and approaches to their identity, as well as explores other themes on humanity. Art, during any time period, sees artists seeking their own voice as a fundamental pursuit; as a contemporary art exhibition, we witness the range of mediums that allow artists to express a variety of themes, including identity, sexuality, gender, mortality, relationships, and social dynamics.
 
The psychological, philosophical, existential messiness of women’s lives and identities remains a legitimate and compelling domain of art. Neo-Perception seeks to open a discussion on today’s generation of women and how they are reflected in art, without assuming the label of ‘female art’. Rather, the exhibition seeks to unveil a new consciousness and perception of the world as it is today.
 
Neo-Perception: China’s New Generation of Women Artists runs until 15 November @ Pearl Lam Galleries. G/F, 181 Jiangxi Zhong Lu, near Fuzhou Lu. Tel: 6323 1989. Web: www.pearllam.com
 

Wonderment: New Works by Mu Lei @ Art+ Shanghai Gallery

Wonderment focuses on the recent work of Mu Lei, a Beijing based artist who has developed his own distinctive approach to painting and image construction. The exhibition will reveal the relationship between contemporary practice and more conventional approaches to figurative painting. Practicing a more traditional category of painting, Mu’s figures mediate his relationship with the world through a sense of the real and illusory.

 
Highly technical compositions with impressionistic elements, the paintings depict entrancing subjects in muted tones of black, white, grey and red. Mu seduces his viewers by "ornamentalising" women as icons – playing with roles of power and objectification. The exhibition will feature recent works from the artist.
 
Wonderment: New Works by Mu Lei runs from 6 September until 18 October @ Art+ Shanghai Gallery. 191 Nan Suzhou Lu, near Sichuan Zhong Lu. Tel: 6333 7223. Web: www.artplusshanghai.com
 
Community Hospital @ WhyWhyArt
Community Hospital is a group exhibition in a former Chinese medical clinic space situated in a previousera colonial house. This is the first exhibition organised by WhyWhyArt in this exciting new art space on Yuyuan Lu. The participating international and local artists will be exhibiting works that reflect on philosophical, personal and social issues. Where art raises awareness, can be cathartic, or is even the cause. Using Community Hospital as a place where “Matters” can be explored, stated, defined, and maybe even cured. Each cross medium artwork exhibited each picture a certain problem.
 
Community Hospital runs from 5 September until 10 October @ 1086 Yuyuan Lu, near Jiangsu Lu. Web: www.whywhyart.com