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Exhibition: Multiple Realities - 多重现实
Opening: August 10th, 2008, from 3-6 pm.
Exhibition Dates: August 10, 2008-Sept 20
Curator: Maya Kovskaya
Participating artists: Feng Shu, Han Bing, Li Qing, Sun Huiyuan, Sun Xun, Tao Aimin, Weng Yunpeng, Xia Jing, Michael Zheng, Zheng Lu, Zhou Xiaohu
Host Gallery: F2 Gallery
About the exhibition:
Multiple Realities examines the multiple and polyvalent nature of the world in which we live, through the multidisciplinary art practices of 11 contemporary artists, using oil painting, video, mixed media installation, sculpture, experimental ink wash, and lightbox photography installation to investigate the multiplicity at the core of the human condition. The concept of multiple realities speaks to processes of juxtaposition and paradox, duality and inversion, mimesis and recursion, which animate the artistic languages and conceptual investigations of these artists' works. Works range from a decapitated behemoth Buddha--that icon of transcendence and harmony with nature--cast in compressed coal--the quintessential symbol of humanity's short-sighted, destructive dependence on the ongoing exploitation of nature--by Xia Jing, to Tao Aimin's stunning ink wash "rubbings" of the labor-worn wooden washboards of rural women, whose ceaseless mundane, manual labor marks the passage of their lives; from Michael Zheng's hole in the wall that isn't quite what it seems, to Zheng Lu's bombs made from vermilion "double happiness" characters, typically used to symbolize newlywed bliss; from Sun Huiyuan's inverted AK47's that asked the spectator to gaze down the bullet side of the barrel of the gun, to Han Bing's ethereal inverted images of glamorous high-rises next to shantytowns and construction sites captured in the reflections of Beijing's ubiquitous, pollution-infested, garbage-clogged "stinky rivers," that capture China's fantasy of modernization--both "the detritus and the dream"--in a single image, and much more.
Curator Bio:
Maya Kóvskaya is a Beijing-based writer, art critic and curator with over a decade of experience living in China. She has curated numerous exhibitions, including, most recently, China Under Construction II at the 2008 Fotofest 12th International Photography Biennial (USA, 2008), worked with the Asia Triennial Manchester ATM08 (curatorial liaison for the project at The International 3, UK, 2008), curated China Under Construction I, at Art Houston (USA, 2007), Age of Big Construction (PRC, 2007), The Fatalistic Language of Things (USA, 2007), On the Stage of Modernization (USA, 2007), The Fragmented Gaze: Video Art from the People's Republic (USA, 2007), Love in the Age of Big Construction (PRC and USA, 2006), Quotidian Iconic (curatorial coordinator, PRC, 2006), The Other Shore of Desire (USA, 2006) Estrangements and Engagements: Contemporary Chinese Video Art (Canada, 2006), Misalignments: Chinese Performance and Video Art Documenta (USA, 2006), Other Modernities (USA, 2006), and others. Upcoming exhibitions include Multiple Realities (PRC, 8.2008) China on the Road (Brussels, 02.2009). Her writing has appeared in English, Chinese, Japanese, French and Spanish in numerous art catalogues, academic volumes, and magazines, such as Flash Art, Contemporary, Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Art Post, Art iT, Art Map, Art Management and Investment, Eyemazing: International Contemporary Photography Magazine and positions: east asia cultures critique. Her book on Chinese contemporary art, China Under Construction: Contemporary Art from the People's Republic (2007), is available in bookstores worldwide.
Multiple Realities Press Release as pdf-File 160 KB
Multiple Realities - 多重现实 Press Release as pdf-File 302 KB in Chinese language
For further information, please contact at:
+86 10 64328831 or +86 13488709596
F2 Gallery
319 Caochangdi, East Dashanzi Road, Chao Yang District
Beijing 100015 - China
art@f2gallery.com
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