Last sunday, Chart Contemporary invited Chen Ke to display “A Room of One’s Own,” a temporary installation that is the fourth in an on-going series of Open Houses, art interventions in some of Beijing’s unique spaces. Chen Ke’s room was a tiny closet of a room in a damp underground maze of dwellings near Lido Hotel. The space seemed perfect for Chen Ke, whose relentless and non-apologetic embrace of the dainty and quaint has come to personify the “cartoon” style of her age-group, but whose open embrace of feminism seems just as subverted as the room itself. Chen says that the idea was inspired by Virginia Woolf, but that the safe space atmosphere of cleanliness and respite was a reaction also to the city’s migrant population.The objects in the room were embroidered by “aunties,” who followed the artist’s instructions and sketches to the thread. (more…)

A visit to the home of Ouyang Chun and Yang Fan, some big plans loom on the horizon…

the following was first published on artforum.com, link to the original here.

Li Ming “X X”

Platform China

No. 319-1 East End Art (A), CaoChangDi Village, Chaoyang District｜朝阳区草场地村319号艺术东区内
November 14–December 27

Li Ming, XX, 2009, still from a color video, 5 minutes 17 seconds.

Eleven videos and sporadic accoutrements litter the floor of this exhibition by the emerging artist Li Ming. A television, cast in the bushes outside the gallery entrance, screens Back Garden, 2008, in which security guards, recurring characters in the artist’s vignettes, romp around the gardens of a residential compound in unintelligible acts of “play.”

The folly continues indoors, where the atmosphere turns to one of extreme irrationality and even perturbation. Li’s works fall into the category of absurd realism; he sets the parameters for the semi-orchestrated madness and compulsive behaviors in his videos, while the improvisation of his actors who interpret his instructions makes the works fascinating to watch. In the video XX, 2009, two men sit on a stone, writhing as they attempt to exchange shirts; the rule is that their skin must always make contact. More awkward body negotiations and Dionysian revelry follow in Afternoon Happiness, 2008, wherein a group of near-naked boys chase one another through a demolished building, smear one another with cream, and then try to lick it off.

The strongest works in the exhibition display Li’s understated production techniques, which do not undermine his ability to captivate viewers. Recurring characters, plants, and unorthodox, sexually charged human contact are just a few elements in his latent symbolic language. An exploration of the boundary between agony and ecstasy is among the most significant leitmotifs here.

––Lee Ambrozy

Elsewhere, 2009, video_12′09”

(more…)

The “Green” art fair recently ended in China’s World Trade Center. Young artists sent their works directly to the fair, applying through an online form, and buyers, gallerists came to root through the weeds, in hopes of finding young sprouts to cultivate. Each artist was only allowed to display one work, and there were some rather established artists present, such as Yang Fan, who sent a portion of the massive carpet she installed last spring, and even some artists under pseudonyms (one included in the photos below).  In its first year, the fair’s website is as ‘green’ as the artists it promotes: only a portion of works are shown online, and the site often malfunctions. Despite that, some editor’s picks are below, click on image for detailed information.

(more…)

一凡新作展的名称《看不完》与展览本身十分契合：大量的录像、装置作品让观众目不暇接，同时，每一件作品都包含着过多的文本，恐怕没有哪个观众可以真正地将某一件作品“看完”。王一凡在创作中始终关注着时间维度，并对其进行挑战。《监视时间：王一凡的钟表》是他的代表作之一。在这件装置作品中，王一凡利用中国家庭中常见的石英钟作为道具，采取机械的方式记录下石英钟24小时的状态，通过对24小时的钟表的纪录，王一凡在石英钟上以隐晦的方式将自己的名字演变为产品logo，试图在其中建立一种崭新的秩序，以期实现对时间的掌控。纵观王一凡的作品，他似乎总是在关注生活中稀松平常、微不足道，但却真实存在的细小变化。不管是记录空间状态的录像作品，还是密密麻麻誊写下来的小说，经过王一凡的聚焦与放大，这些不引人注意的细微末节突然从默默无闻的角落被抛向聚光灯的中心。随着微小平常的生活点滴成为作品的主体，看与被看的角色也随之错位。时间由隐形的控制者转变为被窥视的角色，话语权转移到观众手中。观看与否，观看的完整与否，都取决于观众自己。同时，观众与艺术家二元对立的角色设置也产生了微妙的变化；王一凡的作品提供了一条纽带，让观众和艺术家联手，正视并解构时间。Author: 景晓萌 2009.08.08-2009.09.07 星空间艺术中心|Star Gallery谢谢artforum.cn, 访问原文

王一凡个展“看不完”的确贯彻了“看不完”的根本要义——展出作品包含五件时长24小时的录像作品和抄写在十一幅画布上面的两万多字的小说（小说作者为王一凡），完整地看完这个展览，至少需要不合眼地“看”上120个小时以上，所以对观众而言，“看完”的可能性简直微乎其微。通过超乎寻常的长度，平凡的画面被王一凡改变，常识遭到质疑──“观看”的过程与方式遇到了一个难题──在作品面前，是不是去思考它的意义比用眼睛观看更为重要呢？

那些透过树叶撒在楼梯上的“阳光”，是王一凡于2008年拍摄的作品《安静》。水泥地面上斑驳的树影唤起了艺术家在烈日下等待的日常记忆，只有你心怀沉静、默默观察，才能够在树影中察觉树叶的微微晃动。

王一凡创作观念的成熟从“黑板”系列开始，2005年，他开始在黑色画布上书写他的“故事”。本次展出的题为《马利》的11幅作品是他这一系列的最新代表，画面上的文字讲述了主人公马利从高中到大学毕业的恋爱经历；文字由王一凡撰写，他邀请了11位朋友共同把两万字的小说抄写在画布上，于是形成了面前这番风格迥异的画面形态。 (more…)

Wang Yifan films Xie Molin from lee ambrozy on Vimeo.

王一凡为了个展《看不完》在弄新的作品拍艺术家谢墨凛的一张画。我偷偷地拍下来这里的小记录片。此作品系列的名称是《王一凡拍摄谁谁谁》，用固定的拍摄方法艺术家王一凡按照他“自然的时间单位” 24小时录像拍摄对象艺术家工作室里的画。除了阳光的变化，没有声音或其他变化。

看不完
Kàn Bù Wán
王一凡个展
Wang Yifan solo exhibition
策展人：安静
Curator: Lee Ambrozy

开幕酒会：2009年8月8日下午4点
Opening: Aug 8, 2009, 4:00 pm

2009.8.8 – 2009.9.7 / Aug 8, 2009 – Sep 7, 2009

地点：星空间、北京市朝阳区酒仙桥路2号、798艺术区D09
Star Gallery，D09, 798 Art Zone, No.2 Jiuxianqiao Road，Chaoyang District, Beijing
Tel: +86 10 5978 9224

Its that time of year again, when sweaty gallerists flock to art academy campuses, eager to snatch up the next big thing. Here’s a few choices from the exhibition of students from the sculpture department. Head of the department Sui Jianguo was in attendance, admiring the works while a swarm of his admirers hovered behind him. Sub-themes seemed to include creepy, horror film make-believe and the creative use of hair…

This igloo piece was hiding under a tree, it was made of spray foam used in construction, covered in a sheet, and holes were cut in the walls. It was made on location, and although it looked a little dubiously constructed, it was an anomaly as the only work deviating from figurative representations, shiny materials or nostalgic antiques and tropes. (more…)

Wang Guangle @ Beijing Commune
until May 14

According to tradition in his hometown, elderly people will paint their coffins with one layer each year. Wang Guangle has adopted this to the canvas, in remarkably more colorful layers than we might see on anything to be buried underground. As always, his work reveals time, patience, and the somewhat unexpected results of turning concept into canvas.

The artist himself is extremely popular among Chinese collectors and has a great reputation among artists, but many “outsider” viewers  (Laowai) fail to see the appeal. Unfortunately, this show does not reflect what I consider some of Wang’s best works, those (I’m judging by what I saw on the gallery website) which are now represented by Beijing Commune.

His early works, realist canvases featuring afternoon light hitting the terrazzo floor, reveal ideas essential to the artist’s development; they were not on show at the opening. Later works where he grinds thick layers of dried paint into what looks like actual terrazzo on the canvas were neither on display, nor were photographs of his legendary performance in his Suojiacun studio (read more below). The terrazzo pattern and coffin paint series are his trademarks. A more detailed description is below, in a short artist introduction written for “Looking for Me” (2008)

WANG Guangle
王光乐 (more…)

Huang Liang until April 19 @ Platform China project space
“Look Deeper” until May 17 @ Platform China

In Platform China’s project space, Huang Liang small solo show offers a morbid encounter with illness. Misdiagnosed with cancer in his early adulthood, cool shades of clinical gray seem to still haunt his memory. Although Huang Liang’s tactile painting style of oil on canvas is nothing new, or unfamiliar from academic artists, Huang shows talent with paints.

Small, unframed and unmounted canvases of hospital scenes are arranged across the wall like snapshots, juxtaposed with enormous canvases depicting X-rays.

Next door, 12 person exhibition “Look Deeper” is a fairly sparse selection of young artists, (more…)

Yang Fan’s <Spring>
until April 6 @ Star Gallery

In a drastic departure from her works on canvas, Yang Fan has produced a carpet of colorful poof-balls that she culled from the storerooms of clothing and toy factories in her native Guangdong. Yang Fan is formerly known for her series of paintings of young women in fashion plate style, the series, ever popular with Asian collectors, did not resonate with Western audiences.

When she began working on the project last year, she mentioned that the idea came to her while visiting clothing factories in China’s south. In what might have evolved from more “crafty” origins, this work culminates in her scouring of southern factories for unwanted bits and bobs, a new representation of the stories behind the cast-offs, and timely with the massive layoffs in the south.

An essay accompanying the catalogue is presented below. I translated it, but also enjoyed it for some valuable insights on her early works. (more…)

“Fucking Beautiful #3″, Liang Shuo’s recent work displayed at the Arario Gallery’s “The Game Is Not Over - Young Chinese Artist Group Exhibition” (游戏没有结束) was a beautiful elegy on all things kitsch and native to China. Its Chinese name, “臭美” translates roughly to something like “self-admiration”, “indulging in vanity”–– the work is a culmination of the artist’s exploration into the world surrounding him, and perhaps a more objective interpretation of “aesthetics” than what we usually see.

Last year, graduates from CAFA’s sculpture department held a rogue exhibition  (titled “掉队”) in the art studios by Crab Island (蟹岛). Among the works there, Liang Shuo’s “Shopping at the Temple Fair” (描绘购物) left me giddy, it has proven to be a work in which he honed this vocabulary of bright, flashy and gaudy that appears in “Fucking Beautiful #3″.

Although then still a work in process, “Temple Fair” was clearly a work with roots in rural and folk traditions, as well as an almost encyclopedic examination of the uniqueness of the “made FOR China” market–not only were these objects inexpensive, they were reflective of the dreams, preferences and practicalities of living in rural places. Like the “migrant labor” figurative sculptures that he became well known for from 2000-2004, “Temple Fair” also reflected a consciousness or state of living unique to China. (more…)

Beijing art hipsters oddly deny a fascination with the “post-wave” punk band New Pants, its something like New Yorkers who won’t own up to “Gossip Girl” addictions.

Despite the fact that the band’s front men, Peng Lei, is an artist with some repute (and proprietor of a vintage toy boutique), his much more successful band receives nary a mention in Beijing’s art world. This fan was literally sneered at in 798’s “sugar jar records” when she asked if their album was available––instead I purchased a recording that was nowhere near as brilliant as “Dragon Tiger Panacea”, but still labeled itself as ‘punk new wave’. Is the “fine art” myth surrounding 798 purposefully trying to distance itself from the commercial success of Peng Lei and New Pants?

Their new video, 《野人也有爱》 [savages can love too] is a nod to Beijing’s heavy metal heritage. The video is an homage to classic metal bands of the 1990s like Tang Dynasty (or Dou Wei’s Hei Bao), and a jibe at the “primitive” nature of the grubby, long-haired metal hippies that still thrash in the Beijing night.

If you know the references, or have ever experienced an authentic Beijing metal session,  you can appreciate the fine art direction: awesome nappy hair (and fine handling of it), cut off jeans, motorcycles and on-site locations featuring the National Art Gallery, Forbidden City and a sweet pile of rubble.

Its clear that Peng Lei’s’ “artistic direction” helped the band take off, and even though there are a few lapses into videos with a mass-market appeal, the lo-fi, self-depreciating absurdity of “savages can love too” convinced me that there were some more good things to come.

In the video below,  see a great use of montage in 《爱带我回家》[love take me home], some unforgettable dancing moves by keyboardist Pang Kuan, unresolved Village People references and a superb “circle of slapping”.

More New Pants classics:
Dragon Tiger Panacea, Bye Bye Disco, She is Automatic

Click here for an interview with Peng Lei in Wallpaper magazine
see more works from his 2007 solo exhibition at Arario Beijing 

站台中国

朝阳区草场地村319－1艺术东区A区内
2008.08.30-2008.10.12中国文化浸染于含蓄微妙的暗示中，有时候这种暗示过于微妙，以至于很容易就被忽略。“微妙”展中，策展人凯伦·史密斯 (Karen Smith)精心选择了九位中国艺术家的作品－－他们来自不同的年代，采用的是不同的媒介，思考过程各具不同的创意性——由此展现了历史性的精致提炼。

王卫根据场地，创作了定点装置，对于展览空间进行了变形。他将房产工事模型中使用的一组小型的家具扩大。等身大小的衣橱和厨房柜子对于这个空间，产生了很奇特的效果，创造了一种双重性的身份。这些令人惊异的白木雕，因其环氧树脂合成的边缘，而更增添了其人工性，从而令它们表面看起来，就好像是从塑料模子中打造出来的一样。艺术伴侣胡晓媛和仇晓飞，在相邻的房间里展出了各自的作品；每位艺术家运用的是现有物品的组合以及常规的媒介方式，激起的是人们的怀旧之情。在《不动产》（2008），仇晓飞将一些从跳蚤市场弄来的物品，安置摆放，形成一间完成的居所，走廊的入口侧，堆积的是废弃的电器，炊具，以及用上漆的木头再造的逼真的扩音器。而胡的《夏至》（2008），则更具有象征主义意味，同时也更讲究组织构造性：一张破败的课桌上面堆满了蝉的蜕皮；成形于粗糙的造型艺术的日常用品摆放在上面小小的木头架上，一卷从打开的抽屉里垂下来的白纸，一直垂到了地板上。课桌和教学用品暗示着教育体系，蝉意味着在这种严酷的、适者生存的教育体制下，一年一年的蜕变。在另一间屋子里，以画萧瑟风景、戴防毒面具的不详人物而著名的年轻画家贾蔼力，呈现了一幅从火车窗口拍摄的窗外录像。通过使用炭精笔，他绘制的逼真的缝隙，轻薄的长袍，空白的画布，覆盖了将近16英尺高的墙。一束超脱尘俗的光在并不存在的拥挤的墙上，投下了影子，灰暗的房间中是两个空间性的物体，一个标志性的魔鬼般的防毒面罩从中央，就那么凝视着观者。

— 文/ Lee Ambrozy, 译/ 王丹华

更多的展览评论在 artforum.com.cn

(more…)

Some of us look forever, others never seek––perhaps they’re already found “ME.” New September 2008 publication is a compilation of short texts and artwork images documenting China’s new generation of “Post 70s” artists. Included within are 30 artists, each artist includes a short introduction, three full pages of color images, and up-to-date artist resumes, there is even a photograph of each artist, in the old school, i.d. photo style.

These artists included are among the most outstanding of their generation, they represent Mainland China’s up-and-coming talent in the visual arts. Although often called the “Post 70s” generation, the artists here are mostly born after 1975. The book is a compliment to the exhibition of the same name, curated by Fang Fang (art director of Star Gallery and 2006 exhibition “Naughty Kids”), but is meant to stand on its own, and become a resource tool for those interested in this younger generation of artists, a browsing book.

If you’re like everyone else I know, you’re thinking: What does the name mean?

After spending a summer on this book, researching these artists, writing texts, translating and pondering the very same question I can only say: It means what ever you want it to. Whatever looking for you might entail. May you find it within!

Artists: Ouyang Chun / Li Jikai / Wei Jia / Qin Qi / Huang Yuxing / Xiong Yu / Wen Ling / Wang Guangle / Liu Ding / Li Hui / Qiu Jiongjiong / Song Kun / Wang Yaqiang / Liang Yuanwei / Cao Fei / Wang Yifan / Li Chaoxiong / Chen Ke / Xu Maomao / Jia Aili / Gao Yu / Li Qing / Qiu Xin / Wen Chuan / Yan Cong / Ha Migua / Chen Fei / Jin Nv / unmask

Book design: Liu Zhizhi MEWE

Authors: Lee Ambrozy / Jing Xiaomeng / Gong Jian / Huang Shan / Helen Li / Pauline J Yao / Chang Chang

下面的文字是《找自己》70后一代的艺术家。
烟囱的艺术生活是从寝室里的孤单和无聊时光中挖掘出来的：他通过给网友发自己的漫画和小插图来克服孤独感。虚构的风景与小镇居民是烟囱本人的心况与童年乡愁的结合，抑或是对老家农庄的回忆。

烟囱常常使用不起眼的工具作为最基本的材料: 圆珠笔、报纸拼贴、低科技的数码绘画工具，甚至针线他都用过，这些简单的原料反映出作者试图回归单纯生活的愿望。在不同尺寸和质感的纸面上，神话怪物的奇遇在烟囱的寂寞世界中展开。烟囱的叙事能力在从小读漫画的过程中培养出来；美院国画系的教育背景又在画面处理的技术层面上有所助益。他在博客“汽水小店”上跟朋友分享所有的作品，同时也是“绿校年展”的发起人之一（“绿校”可以称得上当代最活跃的青少年民间艺术团体）。

虽然烟囱的作品看上去像儿童画，但人物的眉毛、眼神, 等等类似的细微差别却透露出作者娴熟的处理手法。在烟囱的神话世界里，微笑的月亮保持着俯瞰一切的姿态，还能遇到长牛角的坏蛋和有狗头的乖男孩儿。为了感动你，这些人物可以把心掏出来。烟囱的作品虽然纤小，其中的内容却在膨胀，每一个小图片都化作他私人的神话，庇护着观众在更简单的世界中停留。