RedBox Review

Do a Book: Group exhibition and installation at White Space, Beijing

RedBox Review — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:56:53 +0000

February 18, 2012

IMAGE: Kiki Smith, Companion (2000), Offset lithography, 17.4 x 311 cm © Kiki Smith, Courtesy The Pace Gallery Published by the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, Columbia University

“Do A Book” is an exhibition at White Space Gallery in Caochangdi, Beijing devoted to exploring the medium of artists books and text-based art works. Curated by George Chang and Katherine Don, “Do A Book” provides a unique opportunity to reconnect with an important tradition of creative expression explored by artists both in China and abroad. The exhibition will be open to the public February 18 – March 18, 2012. The purpose of this display is to create a dialogue about the tradition of the “artist book” and the genre of the book medium. The artist book is an art form and a medium widely unexplored by contemporary artists in China, but is not absent from current practice. An artist book does not refer to a publication used to augment an exhibition, rather it is an object produced as an art work itself, often as a unique or limited edition. This project is a survey of objects that are related to books by contemporary artists from cities around the world. This exhibition highlights the varied interpretations of the book form: as a vessel for information or narrative, as an abstract form that transcends function, or as a medium referring to a book’s social function. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication presented in newspaper format. Artists, when available, have contributed a statement about their process to make a book or their relationship to the book. This publication is part of a three-part series of reports related to the “Do a Book” exhibition: I) Exhibition II) Context III) Response. Opening: 3:00pm – 6:00pm, Feb 18th , 2012 Duration: Feb 18th – Mar 18th ,2012 Curated by George Chang and Katherine Don Presented by White Space Beijing Gallery Works by: Tom Bell, Lukas Birk,章森 George Chang, 张能杰 Rutherford Chang, 陳龍斌 Chen Longbin, Ain Cocke, 郭鸿蔚 Guo Hongwei, 洪浩 Hong Hao, 黄敏 Huang Min, Ravikumar Kashi, 孔国桥 Kong Guoqiao, 梁志和 Leung Chiwo, 刘任Liu Ren, 马军 Ma Jun, 掉对 Out, 庆庆 Qingqing, Kiki Smith, Sarah Sze, Rirkrit Tiravanija, 曾建華 Tsang Kinwah, Heimo Wallner, 王超 Wang Chao, Terry Winters & Ben Marcus, 徐冰 Xu Bing

[Show as slideshow]

Asia Society Opens Museum in Hong Kong

RedBox Review — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:07:14 +0000

Courtesy of ASHK

ART INFO reviews the Asia Society opens Museum in Hong Kong: The Asia Society Hong Kong，the first American museum satellite ever to open in China. The architecture is designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

In the interview, Asia Society director Melissa Chiu told ART INFO : “It’s a major new building initiative that allows us to extend our reach into Asia with a physical complex, We all know that Asia is growing in political and economic importance, and so by opening a building in Hong Kong it’s a major architectural statement about Hong Kong’s past and future. We’re also able to make a statement about the growing connections between the U.S. and Asia.”

From ART INFO (online here)

Article by Janelle Zara / Jan 20,2012

Wang Gongxin video installation at Denver

RedBox Review — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:09:49 +0000

Jan 28th – March 11, 2012
RedLine Art, Denver

In partnership with The Asian Art Coordinating Council, RedLine will present Wang Gongxin, the godfather of Chinese video art, will open his first U.S. solo show on January 28, 2012 in RedLine’s exhibition spaces. Curated by Julie Segraves, this exhibition will bring visitors through ancient to contemporary Chinese culture through four large-scale video installations. Seagraves explains:

All four works are intense video installations, flawless in execution, and compelling in presentation. Each video installation has a different emotive quality, and the exhibit takes the viewer through a wide range of emotions. Although Wang’s videos are personal statements about China, in reality they deal with universal issues that all viewers can relate to and have their own personal interpretations.

The exhibition will begin in RedLine’s Project Space with My Sun, a three-channel panoramic screen that uses the metaphor of an old Chinese peasant woman to explain what Seagraves calls, “the pursuit of the unobtainable in life.” The final and perhaps culminating piece of the exhibition is It’s About Ya. This nine-channel sound and video installation will dominate over half of the large gallery space at RedLine, fusing the beautiful with the disturbing through rapid editing and chaotic sequences. The images selected for It’s About Ya draw from Wang’s personal life, but the result speaks more significantly to the state of Chinese culture today.

About Wang Gongxin
Born in 1960, Wang Gongxin is one of China’s earliest and most influential video artists. His innovative conceptual videos reveal a deeply personal critique of contemporary life in China today. For more information and to view an archive of his video works please visit www.wanggongxin.com

Nest Image: Chinese Ink Painting by Hao Liang at My Humble House

RedBox Review — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:33:44 +0000

December 10, 2011

Dec 1 – 31, 2011
My Humble House
Taiwan

My Humble House Gallery is presenting young artist Hao Liang‘s solo exhibition ” Nest Image“. Hao Liang was born in 1983 and graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Insititute. The works of the young artist Hao Liang breathe an air of classical art. He deliberately looks back and reflects on the contemporary through the lens of tradition. In the past few years, he has drawn inspiration from the realism of the Song dynasty artists. He adopts a brush technique typical of the Song dynasty Xuanhe Period and uses Chinese ink and colour for his creations on silk. His new works consist of two layers in which he adopts a realistic approach to analyze his subjects. Because of the large discrepancies between China and the West, both cultures have also come to express things in a completely different way. However in all these artistic differences there is still room left for communication, contact and exchange.

Art In America: Review of Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen at Chambers Fine Art New York

RedBox Review — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:31:31 +0000

Art In America’s reviews Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen’s exhibition at Chambers Fine Art, this exhibition “The Way of the Chopsticks III” is the project’s third iteration.

From Art In America(online here)

Article by Lilly Wei 12/01/11

Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen, a Beijing-based husband and wife team, are, as individual practitioners, among China’s leading contemporary artists. They have collaborated for the last 10 years on a single ongoing project. “The Way of the Chopsticks III,” the project’s third iteration, is currently on view at Chambers Fine Art in New York, after premiering at the gallery’s Beijing branch in June. To mark the tenth anniversary of “Chopsticks,” Chambers opened its doors on 11/11/11 at precisely 11:11:11 am. The number 11, as Song points out, resembles a pair of chopsticks.

……

Article links: It Takes Two: Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen

Zhan Wang Solo Exhibition “My Personal Universe” at UCCA

RedBox Review — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:42:05 +0000

November 26th 2011-February 25th 2012
UCCA
798 Art District, Beijing

Every year, as art lovers, collectors, art consultants etc , they could have a lot of chances to see lots of art exhibitions. This month is the last of 2011, so we could recall which exhibition is the most interesting or best in your mind. As for me, maybe i will recommend Zhan Wang‘s new exhibition of “My Personal Universe” at UCCA. Last sunday, my friend and i went to see this exhibition, we were awed by the thousands of stainless steel stones and six viedos. My friend told me that ” It’s a very powerful exhibition and i will never forget it”.

You could know more about this exhibition from the following press release. “Zhan Wang has displayed his series of stainless-steel rock casts at an impressive resume of venues, even hauling one to the top of Mt. Everest. For his exhibit My Personal Universe at UCCA, Zhan Wang began the extensive production process for the project by exploding a gigantic boulder in the mountains of Shandong Province while recording the event on hi-definition video from six different angles at 2000 frames per second. In post-production, he extended the millisecond of the explosion from all six angles into three-minute clips. The six HD footages will be projected onto giant screens in the UCCA Big Hall, making the path of each floating rock fragment stunningly clear from each angle. Suspended throughout the exhibition space are over 5000 stainless-steel replicas of the stone fragments from the blast: their gleaming surfaces reflect the footage of the explosion into infinity, thus creating an endless abyss reminiscent of the birth of the universe.

Zhan Wang’s exhibition is further subdivided into two separate but consecutive “facets” – outer and inner – that explore complementary sides of the artist’s private universe. Using different methods of installation and video, these two “facets” illuminate the universe that exists outside, and the universe that lies within.”

Text and image courtesy by UCCA.

[Show as slideshow]

RedBox Review Nominated for Russian Prize – Please vote!

Samantha Culp — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:44:16 +0000

It’s a great surprise and an honor that RedBox Review was nominated for the art-blogging section of the inaugural Petr Konchalovsky Art Criticism Prize, to be given at a conference in St. Petersburg Russia tomorrow.

Please vote for us by 11/27 at the link here and spread the word – it would be wonderful to help us represent for the Chinese art blogging community and bring more exchange and opportunities back to colleagues around China. Thank you for all your support!

(Note: voting is in Russian, but just click on the GREEN box next to the RedBox Review section as the picture indicates)

China Institute: Blooming in the Shadows, Unofficial Chinese Art, 1974-1985

Katherine Don — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:56:28 +0000

Until December 2011 The China Institute 125 East 65th St, between Lexington and Park Avenues Tucked away in New York’s upper east side is an exhibition whose subtle title and unpretentious gallery presentation belie its formidable influence in contemporary Chinese art today. The selection of oil paintings, ink paintings, and sculptures exhibited in two small galleries manifest an impressive range of themes and are evidence to an artistic practice in China that has more than just blossomed, but exploded into the world’s contemporary art scene and current market. Co-curated by Professors Shen Kuiyi and Julie Andrews, also well-respected scholars of modern and contemporary Chinese art, the scholarly exhibition presents an unprecedented simultaneous display works with strict academic rigor by three historically recognized avant-garde groups creating art during and following the Cultural Revolution. The quiet and charming oil painting landscapes and drawings of the No Name Group are sadly as unmemorable as their self-declared name suggests. In contrast, the dense display of the energetic experimental ink painting of the Shanghai Grass Society and the powerful conceptual art of the Stars Group illustrates the diversity and rigor of Chinese contemporary art and practice. Strangely the works representing by Stars Group member Ai Weiwei–the internationally recognized art impresario who captivates the media’s attention with his outspoken social and political critique–were created after the Stars Group main period of activity from 1979 to 1983 in Beijing. His 1985 coat hanger bent into a profile represents an homage to conceptual art’s godfather, Marcel Duchamp, and acknowledges the crucial dependence on Western art’s influence in Chinese contemporary art. Nevertheless, for the sake introduction to the historic , the display overcomes slight anachronisms in the wall text to provide an unprecedented opportunity to view works created in a seminal moment of China’s art history. This period is best summarized by Wang Keping’s iconic Silent wood sculpture of a figure brutally silenced and blinded successfully captures the critical period of emotional distress in China and subsequent development of artistic modernism. From the exhibition at The China Institute: “Beginning in 1973, the No Name Group was simply a group of self-taught and self-motivating artists who avoided the public for their own political and physical safety. The landscapes they created have unique compositions and color chords. “The Grass Society was founded in the fall of 1979 in Shanghai. This group of artists threw themselves into the pursuit of non-political ink painting, with the conviction that experimental ink painting had as much claim on modernity as did any other form of art. “The Star Group was active from 1979 to 1983 in Beijing. Every artist pursues freedom and self-expression in their artwork. They organized a demonstration for continuing their exhibition on October 1, 1979 which brought wide attention at the time. They presented two exhibitions in 1979 and 1980. These unofficial artists set the stage for political democracy and artistic modernism that would become axiomatic to post-Cultural Revolution China.” Read more at ArtSpeakChina.

[Show as slideshow]

“Contemporary Chinese art has taken the art world by storm in the last decade through heralded museum exhibitions, well-read publications, and heavily attended art auctions. However, even with all this attention, few exhibitions have asked the question of how—against the background of thirty-five years of Socialist Realism—this internationally-oriented artwork suddenly appeared and why it captured the attention of the international art market. Blooming in the Shadows: Unofficial Chinese Art, 1974-1985 will introduce the work of three unofficial Chinese art groups who worked in this vein: the No Names, the Stars, and the Grass Society—all of which arose following the end of the Cultural Revolution and helped launch the avant-garde movement in China. These artists pursued creatively diverse paths to personal artistic freedom under the political circumstances of the time. Blooming in the Shadows will examine this work produced in the critical decade after the end of the Cultural Revolution leading up to the Communist party’s 1985 decision to allow modern artistic practices. This is an original exhibition organized by China Institute Gallery. It is directed by Willow Hai Chang, Director of China Institute Gallery, and co-curated by Kuiyi Shen, Director of the Chinese Studies Program and Professor of Asian Art History, Theory, and Criticism, at the University of California San Diego, and Julia Andrews, Professor of Art History at Ohio State University and a specialist in Chinese painting and modern Chinese art. For further information about the exhibition, and to explore a variety of dynamic, interactive resources including a photo gallery from the exhibition, lesson plan and information about other upcoming exhibition-related programs and events at China Institute, click here.

Gallery Hotel: A New Art Hotel at Worker Stadium

RedBox Review — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:39:02 +0000

On Nov 19,2011, Gallery hotel hold the inaugural opening and at the same time they presented the first Gallery Hotel Art Project.
They invited four curators to curated different exhibition and presented over 70 artists works, include oil painting, installation, photo, video and sculpture.This ambitious project surely offers a remarkable unveiling in it’s contemporary context, further creating a dialogue for contemporary art in private and public spaces.Gallery Hotel is a new art hotel and invested by famous Chinese contemporary collector Zhang Rui.

More images, you could see the following 99ys link:

http://news.99ys.com/20111122/article–111122–76689_1.shtml

[Show as slideshow]

Beijing Weekend Round-up（Nov 2011）

RedBox Review — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:14:14 +0000

There are a lot of openings of exhibition in this month, especially on Nov 19, it will be the last exhibition for each gallery or art center. We will look forward to 2012.

798 Art District:

UCCA: Zhan Wang‘s ” My Personal Universe”, “Curated by…” series’s Tang Yuhan‘s” Interior Divination”, Apitchatpong Weerasethakul‘s ” For Tomorrow For Tonight” and Kolkoz‘s “Parallax” (Nov 19,2011 – Feb 25,2012)

Soka Art Gallery: Runis-Face of Contemporary Northeast China (Nov 19, 2011 – Jan 15 2012)

Pace Beijing Gallery: Beijing Voice: LEAVING REALISM BEHIND(Nov 19,2011 – Feb 12, 2012)

Being 3 Gallery: Wei Ligang solo exhibition (Nov 19,2011 – Dec 18,2011)

Caochangdi Art District:

White Space Beijing: Wang Qiang’s Venus Hotel and Zhu Zi’s Mountain River Water(Nov 19,2011 – Jan 15,2012)

Chambers Fine Art: Wu Jian’an’s Seven Layered Shell (Nov 5,2011 – Dec 16,2011)

F2 Gallery: Henry Hudson’s Between A Rock and A Hard Place(Nov 20,2011 – Jan 30,2012)
Beijing Art Now Gallery: Hong Shaopei’s solo exhibition(Nov 5,2011 – Dec 30,2011)

Baiziwan Lu:

Today Art Museum: Chen Fei’s solo exhibition (Nov 19 -30 ,2011)