Starting Point of the Experiment
Starting Point of the Experiment
Contemporary Chinese Art has so far undergone more than 20 years of development. Many of the resulting works of art stem from the history and reality of Chinese culture, and therefore are imbued with clear Chinese characteristics. In addition to the artworks that have snappily made inroad into the international scene and have thus become conspicuous, the evolutionary process of contemporary Chinese art itself exhibits a sense of both abundance and diversity. There is one type of works of art that transcends geographical boundaries and cultural differences, and accentuates pure visual experimentation. Although not among the mainstream, this kind of artworks has made valuable contributions to art connotation, to the exploration of boundary and to the space expansion of visual manifestation. Cases in point include the New Measurement Group of Beijing in the 1990s, and works by Qian Weikang and Shi Yong of Shanghai, who created their works by using conceptions, texts and installations that had nothing but physical attributes; and through such means as conceptualized measurement, statistics and rational analysis.
Certainly these works were born out of the specific cultural and historical backdrop of that era, and interpretation of these works is inevitably associated with the corresponding cultural atmosphere. However, judging from the works themselves, the varied elements constituting the works have all been deprived of their ethnic and cultural context and connotations, and are derived purely from the most common philosophical cognition and logic. The resulting works are a group of transcendental concepts, images and objects. There is a long distance between this trend and such trendy works as the widely known Chinese Pop Arts. Although the former had been somewhat influenced by the influence of foreign conceptual art, and later on all the artists took on different explorations and artistic pursuits, the sheer experimental spirits they had exhibited were very precious.
This method of art creation involves going back to the starting point. In art, experiment is not an objective in itself but a way to innovate. Experimentation allows failure. But the freedom of reformation and innovation is only possible through going back to the most fundamental conceptual headstream, which breaks away from the preset critical mindset. The experimental spirit runs through the development of contemporary Chinese art. Today, new manifestations have emerged in the visual experimentations, many scenarios and issues of which are worth investigating. The manifestation of the artists in this exhibition shines a lamp on the landscape in that regard. Such issues as the correlation between visual experiments and cultural background, the relation between technical & material experiments and innovation, the function of artist identity in art experiments, the intricate relationship between the conceptualization of a scheme and its implementation, are well presented in the art works of the participating artists.
Depicting a simple, terse visual language, Wang Xiaoyu’s video work has a powerful overbearing effect. Piecing together the rather time-limited elements such as the sky, flying birds, cumulus, flowing water, the work forms a mental framework of visual impressions: anticipation, questioning, Q&A and outcome are not in an inevitable step-up relationship. They are combined to form one entity and to become an autonomous whole. The rediscovery of the meaning of the images is also holistically presented in the works of Cai Weidong and Chen Weiqun. By predetermining the scene, Cai Weidong explores such issues as the production and dissimilation of images, intervention in reality by the images and their variation in meaning. The re-examination and exploration of the concepts and meaning of these images constitute the experimental character and features of his works. Chen Weiqun’s photographic works utilize the technique “create forms with colors”, which is in particular highlighted in Chinese art education, and has immersed countless art examinees and teachers in its exaggerated and dissimilated forms of expression. What Chen has done is to emulate and convert these painting mechanisms in photography. Doing this directly results in spectacular effects, and reverses the actual emulation, accurately touching the basis of the meaning of the images.
Although there are images of wolf and Buddha in Yu Bogong’s works, as is described in Buddhist scriptures, the external appearance may be misleading. It is with the help of these figures that the artist interprets the fragility in significance of the concepts we use, and how narrow it is to deduce result from sheer cause. We may see that artists prune to ontological experiments are no longer shunning motifs with clear cultural symbols. But this quotation does not bring the readers to an entry through which cultural values can be judged; rather it ushers the readers into the contemplation over the significance and function of both the artists and art works per se. This has happened in Zhang Zhaohong’s sculptural work “Fuxi and Nuwa”, legendary ancestral figures reconstructed as commoners in the contemporary age. The discrepancies and commonalities between the female and male genders, and the relations between the two genders, have exceeded the common principles and demonstrated the miraculous union of the return to self and of the illusionary evolution.
In deducing from such concepts as space shift and time journey, and by deploying such items as a chessboard, burning incenses, and books, the several collaborated works of Deng Hua and Fu Zhen build a structural system that is based on the intrinsic function and purpose of the items involved. In the process, the artist bestows the meaning of existence with a process, a physical entity and an image, making the artwork not only something to be seen and appreciated, but also a proactive existence imbued with ontological connotations.
In the works of Shao Kang, the bottom line does not lie in the shape of 3-dimensional or Minimalistic structures; rather it lies in the complementing constitution of resembling materials: cubic sugar and cement blocks. The feelings people harbor towards these two materials have entered a special space inside the work. As viewers shift their thoughts, the physical attributes of the materials traverse sense-dominated reality and heterogeneous situation, which is created by imagination and thinking.
The same situation can be seen in the Yang Chunlin’s works: be it in the form of distorted pulp-sculpted human figures or horses, or animal-skin-wrapped half humans. The materials, sculpting techniques and motifs have resulted in a mutational structural system, releasing existential energy from the opposite side of being.
Using experimental visual shift, the eight artists featured in the exhibition try to surpass the daily objects’ common exterior, and display the heaviness of visual impression. From their own unique life and artistic experiences, the artists do not stop at the ordinary descriptive surface. By going back to the essence of their nature, these works avoid the interference and entanglement of external objects, and display using direct and sharp languages the logical evolution of the visual forms, bringing to the audience the possibility of transcending everyday experiences in a candid and unreserved manner. Through their unique professional aptitudes and languages, the artists trace back to the origins of thoughts, and transform the contextual backdrop of the images involved. They rise beyond and transcend these “imagoes” inertly retained in people’s consciousness, and empower the audience to experience the truth that will emerge following the collapse of the superficial imago.
Text By Zhang Li
Written in August, 2008
Contemporary Chinese Art has so far undergone more than 20 years of development. Many of the resulting works of art stem from the history and reality of Chinese culture, and therefore are imbued with clear Chinese characteristics. In addition to the artworks that have snappily made inroad into the international scene and have thus become conspicuous, the evolutionary process of contemporary Chinese art itself exhibits a sense of both abundance and diversity. There is one type of works of art that transcends geographical boundaries and cultural differences, and accentuates pure visual experimentation. Although not among the mainstream, this kind of artworks has made valuable contributions to art connotation, to the exploration of boundary and to the space expansion of visual manifestation. Cases in point include the New Measurement Group of Beijing in the 1990s, and works by Qian Weikang and Shi Yong of Shanghai, who created their works by using conceptions, texts and installations that had nothing but physical attributes; and through such means as conceptualized measurement, statistics and rational analysis.
Certainly these works were born out of the specific cultural and historical backdrop of that era, and interpretation of these works is inevitably associated with the corresponding cultural atmosphere. However, judging from the works themselves, the varied elements constituting the works have all been deprived of their ethnic and cultural context and connotations, and are derived purely from the most common philosophical cognition and logic. The resulting works are a group of transcendental concepts, images and objects. There is a long distance between this trend and such trendy works as the widely known Chinese Pop Arts. Although the former had been somewhat influenced by the influence of foreign conceptual art, and later on all the artists took on different explorations and artistic pursuits, the sheer experimental spirits they had exhibited were very precious.
This method of art creation involves going back to the starting point. In art, experiment is not an objective in itself but a way to innovate. Experimentation allows failure. But the freedom of reformation and innovation is only possible through going back to the most fundamental conceptual headstream, which breaks away from the preset critical mindset. The experimental spirit runs through the development of contemporary Chinese art. Today, new manifestations have emerged in the visual experimentations, many scenarios and issues of which are worth investigating. The manifestation of the artists in this exhibition shines a lamp on the landscape in that regard. Such issues as the correlation between visual experiments and cultural background, the relation between technical & material experiments and innovation, the function of artist identity in art experiments, the intricate relationship between the conceptualization of a scheme and its implementation, are well presented in the art works of the participating artists.
Depicting a simple, terse visual language, Wang Xiaoyu’s video work has a powerful overbearing effect. Piecing together the rather time-limited elements such as the sky, flying birds, cumulus, flowing water, the work forms a mental framework of visual impressions: anticipation, questioning, Q&A and outcome are not in an inevitable step-up relationship. They are combined to form one entity and to become an autonomous whole. The rediscovery of the meaning of the images is also holistically presented in the works of Cai Weidong and Chen Weiqun. By predetermining the scene, Cai Weidong explores such issues as the production and dissimilation of images, intervention in reality by the images and their variation in meaning. The re-examination and exploration of the concepts and meaning of these images constitute the experimental character and features of his works. Chen Weiqun’s photographic works utilize the technique “create forms with colors”, which is in particular highlighted in Chinese art education, and has immersed countless art examinees and teachers in its exaggerated and dissimilated forms of expression. What Chen has done is to emulate and convert these painting mechanisms in photography. Doing this directly results in spectacular effects, and reverses the actual emulation, accurately touching the basis of the meaning of the images.
Although there are images of wolf and Buddha in Yu Bogong’s works, as is described in Buddhist scriptures, the external appearance may be misleading. It is with the help of these figures that the artist interprets the fragility in significance of the concepts we use, and how narrow it is to deduce result from sheer cause. We may see that artists prune to ontological experiments are no longer shunning motifs with clear cultural symbols. But this quotation does not bring the readers to an entry through which cultural values can be judged; rather it ushers the readers into the contemplation over the significance and function of both the artists and art works per se. This has happened in Zhang Zhaohong’s sculptural work “Fuxi and Nuwa”, legendary ancestral figures reconstructed as commoners in the contemporary age. The discrepancies and commonalities between the female and male genders, and the relations between the two genders, have exceeded the common principles and demonstrated the miraculous union of the return to self and of the illusionary evolution.
In deducing from such concepts as space shift and time journey, and by deploying such items as a chessboard, burning incenses, and books, the several collaborated works of Deng Hua and Fu Zhen build a structural system that is based on the intrinsic function and purpose of the items involved. In the process, the artist bestows the meaning of existence with a process, a physical entity and an image, making the artwork not only something to be seen and appreciated, but also a proactive existence imbued with ontological connotations.
In the works of Shao Kang, the bottom line does not lie in the shape of 3-dimensional or Minimalistic structures; rather it lies in the complementing constitution of resembling materials: cubic sugar and cement blocks. The feelings people harbor towards these two materials have entered a special space inside the work. As viewers shift their thoughts, the physical attributes of the materials traverse sense-dominated reality and heterogeneous situation, which is created by imagination and thinking.
The same situation can be seen in the Yang Chunlin’s works: be it in the form of distorted pulp-sculpted human figures or horses, or animal-skin-wrapped half humans. The materials, sculpting techniques and motifs have resulted in a mutational structural system, releasing existential energy from the opposite side of being.
Using experimental visual shift, the eight artists featured in the exhibition try to surpass the daily objects’ common exterior, and display the heaviness of visual impression. From their own unique life and artistic experiences, the artists do not stop at the ordinary descriptive surface. By going back to the essence of their nature, these works avoid the interference and entanglement of external objects, and display using direct and sharp languages the logical evolution of the visual forms, bringing to the audience the possibility of transcending everyday experiences in a candid and unreserved manner. Through their unique professional aptitudes and languages, the artists trace back to the origins of thoughts, and transform the contextual backdrop of the images involved. They rise beyond and transcend these “imagoes” inertly retained in people’s consciousness, and empower the audience to experience the truth that will emerge following the collapse of the superficial imago.
Text By Zhang Li
Written in August, 2008
