Contemporary artists tell 'Five Stories About Us'
A group exhibition "Nocturnes: Five Stories About Us" is on in full swing at Space & Gallery Association Shanghai. The exhibition invited five contemporary Chinese artists – Zhou Xiaohu, Geng Yini, Zhao Bo, He Xun and Tan Bide – to reobserve the interconnections of our existence with the world.
As one of the first contemporary art pioneers in China to work experimentally with sculptural ideas of video and animation, 62-year-old Zhou is presenting a series of his art pieces, including paintings, sculptures and installations.
"Calligraphy Theater – The world feeling cold and hot at the same time" by Zhou Xiaohu
His work "Calligraphy Theater – The world feeling cold and hot at the same time," an installation of stainless steel etching, laser cutting and industrial paint, is a unique interpretation of his world outlook inspired from Chairman Mao Zedong's poem "Kunlun Mountains."
With the clever arrangement of broken pieces of a saw and the artful projection lighting design, Mao's world-renowned lines emerge on the wall in Chinese characters:
"Could I but draw my sword overtopping heaven,
I'd cleave you (the Kunlun Mountains) in three:
One piece for Europe,
One for America,
One to keep in the East.
Peace would then reign over the world,
The same warmth and cold throughout the globe."
The saw Zhou uses in the art piece is apparently to echo with the "sword" in the poem.
In Zhao's paintings, the snow-glazed cedar forest emanates a chill that sweeps our imagination back to the Ice Age. These winter vistas lament Earth's distant past and flash a prophecy on humanity's survival in an apocalyptic future – alone in a land of icy devastation.
Geng's perplexing works are always mingled with a playful appeal. Triggered by the displacement of animals' living environment, the artist presents her canvas as a sanctuary for humankind so that we, too, may have a place in the world.
With the most complicated human emotion – the expression of love, Tan's paintings evoke emotional connections in the age of consumerism and the zeal reminiscent of movie posters and beautiful calendar girls. After all, humanity's existence thrives through the power of love.
Artist He seeks a connection between art and nature by converging the bitterness and sweetness of life. His paintings are displayed in a forest setting, with his old beehive collection as outdoor work boxes. He might be implying the relationship between fine art and cultivation of physical labor by bees and the painting palettes, the beekeeper and the painter, honey and art.
The exhibition's title derives from Kazuo Ishiguro's first collection of short stories "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall." The Japanese-British author threads the fate of five music-obsessed individuals into an affective ukiyo-e display about music life.
Composed of the rhythms and syllables in visual aesthetics, the exhibition conflates tradition and innovation, art and labor, landscape and consciousness, animals and humans, and the material and spiritual aspects of human emotions into a nocturne.
"An Era-Disappear," oil on canvas, by Zhao Bo
"Wild Dogs of the Mountain," oil on canvas, by Geng Yini
"Rhyme-falling and Branch," oil on canvas, by He Xun
"November 2019," oil on canvas, by Tan Bide
Exhibition info:
Dates: Through November 20, 10am-6:30pm
Venue: Space & Gallery Association (SGA) Shanghai
Address: 3/F, 3 Zhongshan Rd E1
