Vernissage :: August 27, 2011, 3 – 5 pm
Exhibition Dates :: August 27 - September 18, 2011

Red Gate is pleased to announce a new exhibition of new works on paper by Zhou Jirong. Zhou is a master print maker who has been an artistic witness of Beijing''s urban revolution over the last thirty years. From his early screen prints printed in the eighties to his continued exploration of mix media on special hand-made paper, Zhou has been an acute observer of the city skyline as hutongs alleys metamorphosed into concentric ring roads heralding the complete transformation of rustic neighbourhoods into never ending arrays of office and residential blocks. For this exhibition, Zhou has painted a new body of works on paper that documents the ambiguous Beijing skyline into an artwork of abstract beauty. There is an Eastern sensibility in the works where the architectural silhouettes nestle in a foggy horizon and echo the poetic mist of a Song dynasty landscape. Applying an innovative technique that incorporates silk printing techniques and application of mineral colour pigments, the resulting works on paper are a subtle potpourri of textural and chromatic delights. A semi-hidden urban cityscape is punctunated with vertical forms that hints of construction cranes, distant buildings or lamp posts. The mood is both meditative and melancholic as the viewer is invited to visually unveil a duality of both construction and destruction that echos reality.

Address and Contacts ::
Dongbianmen Watchtower, 9 Chongwenmen Dongdajie, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China
tel/fax: +86 10 65251005
brian@redgategallery.com www.redgategallery.com


城观汐景 - 周吉荣综合材料作品展

过去三十年中，周吉荣一直在其艺术创作中准确深刻地体现着中国的城市化进程。这开始于上世纪八十年代的丝网版画系列“胡同”，近年来则有“绮城”系列。周吉荣以其诗人般的敏锐和洞察力，持续关注记录着从与乡下相差无几的昏睡城市到喧闹都市的变形过程，以及城市中永不歇脚的演化和变迁。

在本次“城观汐景”展中，周吉荣参考城市衰败的表象和色彩，创作了一系列低沉郁闷的图像，来体现艺术家标志性的都市景观。周吉荣娴熟地综合运用了看似不可能的多种技法，将丝网印刷、手工特制浆纸和矿物颜料熔于一炉，结果是令人愉悦的材质与色彩的完美交汇。

本展中“八千里黄昏”是一副气象宏大的作品，周吉荣将城市落日的景象精炼变形为一片浓重的橙色，周围是层叠压缩的边际。周吉荣的创作仿佛是对印象派的赞颂，作品中整座都市被严严实实地包裹在橘色云团中，间或是垂直的侧影，让人想起建筑工地的起重机，或者零散分布的摩天大楼。赭色调的运用强化了躁动的狂热和仿佛要烧熔一切的野心，把整个都市点燃为一座火城。

从另外一方面讲，周吉荣的作品全景又明显象罗马双面门神亚努斯一样有其另外一面，我们也同样可以作另外一种解读，即那是为给城市改造让路而拆迁毁坏的场景。这薄薄纸张所蕴藏的，是力度雄浑却精微巧妙的作品，是当今中国那无处不在且又挥之不去的自相矛盾彼此冲突的两面性。