Beijing Exhibitions>> Gallery Artists Summer Exhibition

For its Gallery Artists Summer Exhibition, Chinese Contemporary is pleased to show works by Huang Rui, Huang Yan, Wu Jianjun, Xue Song, Zhao Bo and Zhang Dali.

Huang Rui’s work, China/Chai-na, discusses the destruction and demolition of old China in the face of the country’s rapid modernization.  China/Chai-na is a clever play the homonym of the country’s English name, China, and the Chinese words for “destroy there,” or “chai-na.” 

Zhao Bo’s work, Our Happy Life, captures the spontaneity, energy and chaos of contemporary Chinese cities.  In his cityscapes, he simultaneously places us within the urban bustle, but also allows us to step back and absorb China as it develops and changes. 

Zhang Dali approaches the physical and social changes occurring within China’s cities from a different perspective – that of its migrant workers and the common people, or “hundred names.”  His works offer insight into how these populations are forced to change and adapt to the state’s push for modernization.  The two works currently on exhibit are from his well-known AK-47 series, which discusses violence inflicted on the individual by the state through the physical destruction of place. 

Huang Yan’s work also touches upon the confluence of tradition and modernity in contemporary China in his works, Face Painting – Chrysanthemum and Face Painting – Four Seasons: Spring.  These photographs utilize the two media of photography and face paint to illustrate the incongruous, yet seamless, mixture of tradition and modernity.

Similarly, Xue Song uses mixed media collage to depict the ways in which memory, history, contemporary symbols and modern society overlap and create a vision of the present.  His work, Imagined Calligraphy, beautifully uses pieces of newspaper, magazine and photographs to create magnified portions of individual characters.  Unrecognizable on canvas, these characters collectively capture Chinese calligraphy’s dynamic and fluid brushstrokes.