Part II: Crossing Boundaries (November 19, 2009 – January 4, 2010)
Part III: Towards Transculturalism (January 2 – March 8, 2010)
Museum of Chinese in America, New York
The three part “Here and Now” exhibition at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) presents the work of twelve contemporary Chinese artists who all call New York home.
“Here and Now Part II: Crossing Boundaries” exhibits works by Chen Long-Bin, Sheng Shiyi, Zhang Hongtu and Ming Fay. In line with Qian Zhijian’s curatorial vision, the work included in “Crossing Boundaries” illustrates the hybridism and often literal cross-cultural bridges present in Chinese contemporary art. To accompany the show, MOCA hosted a panel event where the four artists expressed their views usage of labels such as “Chinese”, “Chinese-American” and “Chinese contemporary artist,” specifically in light of our increasingly globalized world. The art work included in Crossing Boundaries, a mix of sculpture, photograph, video and oil painting, the installation offers an accessible dialogue of this identity blending.
Perhaps the most well-recognized of the group, Zhang Hongtu provides his dexterously executed oil paintings that succinctly demonstrate a combination of Western and Chinese aesthetics. His 21st century translation of traditional Chinese landscapes into modernist/Impressionist-style oil paintings stirs up a whirlwind of theoretical demons, since updating Chinese art history with Western techniques raises sticky questions of aesthetic prominence. But that is where it ends, Zhang’s paintings make no moves to claim which is better; instead they function as aesthetes touting the merits of both systems. A fine example on display is a 2007 Chinese landscape (shanshui) image crystallized through a Post-Impressionist Cezanne-esque lens. As the artist states himself, “There is an old Chinese saying: If you are inside the mountain you cannot know the mountain’s shape. It is only when one exits the mountain that one knows its shape”. It appears that the years spent in New York have pushed Zhang to look upon shanshui paintings with an analytical cubist perspective.
Taiwan-born Chen Long-Bin renews traditional Chinese imagery and subjects through his carved stacks of phone books resembling bust heads of Western and Eastern figures, such as Benjamin Franklin and Happy Buddha. Occasionally using English language books together with Mandarin character books, his sculptures speak for the proximity between cultural divides. Installed collectively, Chen’s busts tie the West with the East by creating a cohesive pantheon of figures rather than geographically isolated characters.
Whereas Chen Long-Bin and Zhang Hongtu’s works combine imagery, Sheng Shiyi’s photographic work is an explicit commentary on the blurred lines of society. The youngest artist in the show, Sheng pursues photographic documentation as a means of observation. On display is “Cross-Cultural Couples”, a collection of portraits of mixed-race couples and families. The couples are photographed in their residential space, raising cultural mergers to a personal, intimate level. Surprising, however, is the fact that the protagonists stare out towards the viewer rather than at each other, an unusual staging for a series that highlights the idea that love knows no racial boundaries. Why doesn’t Sheng Shiyi show a connection between the subjects? Could it be a comment on alienation from one’s partner as a result of racial differences? Societal expectations? No matter the claim, the images are powerfully executed with a nice eye for composition.
The most distinctive work in the show is created by Ming Fay. Clustered along the back wall of the space lies a garden of mixed-media sculptural forms. There is both chaos and order in the installation – each upright sculptural form is a tribute to geometry, wax, vibrant color, organic growth and so on, while on the base is evenly spread mulch contained by neatly lined stones. The space looks as though someone has been to the Suzhou Gardens and allowed his imagination to run free with the vigor of Ken Kesey’s 1970s California vision. (Ming Fay was born in Shanghai – perhaps his proximity to the famous gardens was inspiration.) As the artist who has lived over thirty years in New York (the longest of any included in the show) Fay’s imagination has been given the freedom to expand in the most liberally diffused direction. It is a funky, playful corner.
The dynamism of East meets West that appears in the artworks of Zhang Hongtu, Chen Long-Bin, Shiyi Sheng and Ming Fay, as well as countless other individuals, is the tension that has pushed Chinese contemporary art in new, memorable directions. Zhang Hongtu captures this sentiment when he said, “I am enriched by two traditions, but of course I then also have to question two traditions.” In an era that harbors a global dialogue of far-reaching proportions Chinese artists have the opportunity to produce work layered with meanings of all kinds. The work exhibited in “Crossing Boundaries” demonstrates only the beginning of this ever-growing conversation.
Upon returning to New York after her first visit to China, Soraya Broukhim provides a review of Wang Qingsong’s "When World's Collide" exhibition of photographs and videos at ICP. (Read more)
Upon returning to New York after her first visit to China, Soraya Broukhim provides a review of Wang Qingsong’s "When World's Collide" exhibition of photographs and videos at ICP. (Read more)
Crossing Boundaries at Musuem of Chinese in America (New York)
Part II: Crossing Boundaries (November 19, 2009 – January 4, 2010)
Part III: Towards Transculturalism (January 2 – March 8, 2010)
Museum of Chinese in America, New York
The three part “Here and Now” exhibition at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) presents the work of twelve contemporary Chinese artists who all call New York home.
“Here and Now Part II: Crossing Boundaries” exhibits works by Chen Long-Bin, Sheng Shiyi, Zhang Hongtu and Ming Fay. In line with Qian Zhijian’s curatorial vision, the work included in “Crossing Boundaries” illustrates the hybridism and often literal cross-cultural bridges present in Chinese contemporary art. To accompany the show, MOCA hosted a panel event where the four artists expressed their views usage of labels such as “Chinese”, “Chinese-American” and “Chinese contemporary artist,” specifically in light of our increasingly globalized world. The art work included in Crossing Boundaries, a mix of sculpture, photograph, video and oil painting, the installation offers an accessible dialogue of this identity blending.
Perhaps the most well-recognized of the group, Zhang Hongtu provides his dexterously executed oil paintings that succinctly demonstrate a combination of Western and Chinese aesthetics. His 21st century translation of traditional Chinese landscapes into modernist/Impressionist-style oil paintings stirs up a whirlwind of theoretical demons, since updating Chinese art history with Western techniques raises sticky questions of aesthetic prominence. But that is where it ends, Zhang’s paintings make no moves to claim which is better; instead they function as aesthetes touting the merits of both systems. A fine example on display is a 2007 Chinese landscape (shanshui) image crystallized through a Post-Impressionist Cezanne-esque lens. As the artist states himself, “There is an old Chinese saying: If you are inside the mountain you cannot know the mountain’s shape. It is only when one exits the mountain that one knows its shape”. It appears that the years spent in New York have pushed Zhang to look upon shanshui paintings with an analytical cubist perspective.
Taiwan-born Chen Long-Bin renews traditional Chinese imagery and subjects through his carved stacks of phone books resembling bust heads of Western and Eastern figures, such as Benjamin Franklin and Happy Buddha. Occasionally using English language books together with Mandarin character books, his sculptures speak for the proximity between cultural divides. Installed collectively, Chen’s busts tie the West with the East by creating a cohesive pantheon of figures rather than geographically isolated characters.
Whereas Chen Long-Bin and Zhang Hongtu’s works combine imagery, Sheng Shiyi’s photographic work is an explicit commentary on the blurred lines of society. The youngest artist in the show, Sheng pursues photographic documentation as a means of observation. On display is “Cross-Cultural Couples”, a collection of portraits of mixed-race couples and families. The couples are photographed in their residential space, raising cultural mergers to a personal, intimate level. Surprising, however, is the fact that the protagonists stare out towards the viewer rather than at each other, an unusual staging for a series that highlights the idea that love knows no racial boundaries. Why doesn’t Sheng Shiyi show a connection between the subjects? Could it be a comment on alienation from one’s partner as a result of racial differences? Societal expectations? No matter the claim, the images are powerfully executed with a nice eye for composition.
The most distinctive work in the show is created by Ming Fay. Clustered along the back wall of the space lies a garden of mixed-media sculptural forms. There is both chaos and order in the installation – each upright sculptural form is a tribute to geometry, wax, vibrant color, organic growth and so on, while on the base is evenly spread mulch contained by neatly lined stones. The space looks as though someone has been to the Suzhou Gardens and allowed his imagination to run free with the vigor of Ken Kesey’s 1970s California vision. (Ming Fay was born in Shanghai – perhaps his proximity to the famous gardens was inspiration.) As the artist who has lived over thirty years in New York (the longest of any included in the show) Fay’s imagination has been given the freedom to expand in the most liberally diffused direction. It is a funky, playful corner.
The dynamism of East meets West that appears in the artworks of Zhang Hongtu, Chen Long-Bin, Shiyi Sheng and Ming Fay, as well as countless other individuals, is the tension that has pushed Chinese contemporary art in new, memorable directions. Zhang Hongtu captures this sentiment when he said, “I am enriched by two traditions, but of course I then also have to question two traditions.” In an era that harbors a global dialogue of far-reaching proportions Chinese artists have the opportunity to produce work layered with meanings of all kinds. The work exhibited in “Crossing Boundaries” demonstrates only the beginning of this ever-growing conversation.
- Contributed by Alessandra Henderson
Read past post on the “Here & Now” exhibition at the Museum of Chinese in America, New York