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Eye of Compassion: Wang Chao Solo Exhibition
Born 1985 in Wan Nian, Jiangxi, Wang Chao , was a graduate student at the Hangzhou campus of the China Academy of Art, majoring in traditional Chinese painting. Though he has a background in traditional painting, the artist often experiments with video. Working with pencil and pen he hand draws his images and later adapts them to animation. His themes explore a developing landscape, from the rural townships to the vast cityscape, exploring the complexity of a developing nation and human potential.
Eye of Compassion features the complete three-part series and first complete body of video work by a talented young artist. Wang Chao’s videos bring brave ideas and images to the art world—both within and outside the country. There is a spirit of boldness and innovation in his work, which reflects the unique challenges and excitement of a changing China.
“For me, art is not created to fill a void in a gallery space; rather it is a deeper understanding and contemplation of everyday reality. My work is an expression of my daily confrontations. It is as much my interpretation of society as it is a personal contemplation on human nature.”
Wang Chao, 2009
Exhibited videos by the artist
Shudra
Experimental animation, frame-by-frame, hand-drawn charcoal and pencil drawings
4’37’’
2007
The title of Wang Chao’s work Shudra is borrowed form the term applied to the lowest of the four Varnas (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishy and Shudra) applied during post-Vedic India. Shudras were essentially rural labourers whose role was determined to serve the three higher-ranking Varnas taking the position of slaves, servants and bonded labourers.
The Golden Age
Experimental animation, frame-by-frame, hand-drawn charcoal and pencil drawings
5’12’’
2008
Based on a particular period referred to as the “Golden Age,” the stone, newspaper, chimney, theatre gate and train these images in sequence have little link other than to give reference to the expectations, false promises and facade of the period referred to in the film. Wang Chao aims to dissolve the allusion of ‘glory’ and ‘gold’ that is promised, and in place of his abandonment of falsehoods shines the age of the unknown and unrestrained future.
Avalokitesvara
Experimental animation, composed of frame-by-frame shooting of hand-drawn charcoal and pencil drawings
6’24’’
2009
The video opens to the "Heart Sutra" with the intention of reminding people to observe themselves, or “Guan Zi Zai” as it is explained in Chinese and the title of work. The compassion of bodhisattva, Avalokitesvara is an underlying theme throughout the video. The image of the deity appears in the manifestation of Guanyin, prompting people to live moderately. It is the wisdom and experience of our ancestors who have left us an earth to ponder and a culture to observe, but remind us to keep perspective of our immaterial existence.
Exhibition Duration: January 8th to February 28th 2010
Venue: Art + Shanghai Gallery
Address: 22 Fumin Lu, House 2, (Near Yanan Lu)
Tel: +2162484388
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 11pm to 7pm (Closed Monday)
Art+ Shanghai Presents
The Kids are Alright: Group Exhibition
The Kids are Alright examines the cyclical nature of reality at a moment of transition. Through the artwork of four young and emerging artists, the exhibition provides timely commentary about a period of transformation in Asian’s urban evolution.
A song performed by British band, The Who, “The Kids are Alright”, would be become an anthem for the Mod movement in England during the late 1960s, and later appear as the title of a documentary about the band. The exhibition is less about emerging music sub-genres and more concerned with a particular generation of artists, particularly painters, who are creating a subculture of ambiguity in their work.
The parallel between song and exhibition exists in their shared ethnographic value—unintentional documentation of popular culture during the respective time the works were created. The political personalities, Internet celebrities and symbolic commodities so prominent in the works of Li Wenfeng, Tamen (They Group) and Suryakant Lokhande make relevant commentary about present-day society.
Born in Asia during the late 70s and early 80s, the artists are merged between global hybridism and histories rich in cultural traditions. Their vibrant canvas provide urban narratives with fragmented motifs and icons as ephemeral as the environments they depict.
Each artist has taken over a room in the gallery to encourage a wider appreciation of his personal understanding of both the large events that shape our times, and the slighter circumstances of everyday life. The artists have been asked to create their own mixed- medium installations as visual art testimonies to their generation.
If you require any additional information on the artists or the exhibition, please contact the gallery directly.
Participating Artists:
An artist collective composed of Lai Shengyu and Yang Xiaogang both born in Hunan Province in 1978 and 1979 respectively. Currently based in Beijing and working in the department of new media art in BUAA Beijing China. Lai and Yang were post-graduates in the department of Printmaking Department in the Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing China. Their most recent major exhibitions include “Lost Heaven” (Museum of Hunan, China, 2009) “THEY”(Canvas international art, Amstelveen, 2008), “TA MEN”(Pyo gallery Seoul Korea, 2006) Exhibition Chinese Contemporary Group, , Metropolis Now, (Meridian International Centre in Washington DC, US, 2009)
Born 1979 in Chaozhou, Li Wenfeng graduated from the Print Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. Discontent with flat expression, Li Wenfeng’s works Arrow Fish and Blue Porcelain Flower Vase, feature grand and dramatic scenes of story telling, which borrow a absurd aesthetic to create unusual symbolic expressions of the vast and material world. Most recent exhibitions include, “The Chinese Contemporary Art, Now” (Ho Am Art Museum Seoul Korea, 2008).
Suryakant Lokhande
Born n 1969, Suryakant Lokhande graduated from Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai. One of the brightest young painters working in modern day Maharashtra, he has won awards at the State Art Exhibition, the Camlin Competition, Bombay Art Society Award. Selected as an Emerging Artist for the Dutch documentary film on India Contemporary Artists, he also featured in the ‘Hiroshima – Nagasaki Never Again’ exhibition held in Japan. He has received the Vijay Pokharnas Award and the prize for the most outstanding work in the 105th Annual Art Exhibition of the Bombay Art Society. He had held solo exhibitions of paintings including ‘We Cover You’ at Studio 51 J Gallery and at Alliance Francaise de Bombay, ‘Metal Meets Mettle’ and ‘Inside Out’ at Jamat Art Gallery and ‘Koham at Mahalsa Art Gallery, Mumbai amongst others. He has also participated in many group shows.
The Kids are Alright: A Group Exhibition
Participating Artists: Tamen (They Group), Li Wenfeng, Suryakant Lokhande
Exhibition Duration: November 8th, 2009 to January 15th, 2010
Venue: Art+Shanghai Gallery
Address: 22 Fumin Lu, House 2, (Near Yanan Lu) 200040 Shanghai Tel: +2162484388
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 11pm to 7pm (Closed Monday)
contact@artplusshanghai.com
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