I went down to Paper Restaurant last night for my friends Weng Wei and Rania Ho’s evening of paper cut-outs and projections, only to find that it had happened the previous night. The paper cut-outs were still there, so I was able to get some idea of what the event was like.

There’s a certain child-like fantasy about the piece that’s quite attractive.

Paintings and sculptures, Schapiro pointed out, were ‘the last hand-made personal objects’ within a social order dominated by the division of labour. In a world in which the life of most individuals was subordinate to unsatisfying practical activity, ‘the object of art is, therefore, more passionately than ever before, the occasion of spontaneous or intense feeling’. Abstract art met this need best, because it refused ‘communication’ in a world in which communcation had been utterly instrumentalised and reduced to a notion of the most efficient stimulus to produce a given response. More than any other art, it corresponded to ‘the pathos of the reduction or fragility of the self within a culture that has become increasingly organized through industry, economy and the state’. Although it had no specific political message, abstract painting was the ‘domain of culture in which contradiction between the professed ideals and the actuality [of our culture] is most obvious and often becomes tragic’.1,2

1. HEMINGWAY, Andrew (2006), ‘Meyer Schapiro: Marxism, Science and Art’ in HEMINGWAY, Andrew ed., Marxism and Art History: From William Morris to the New Left, London: Pluto Press. p.142
2. Quotes taken from SCHAPIRO, Meyer (1957), ‘Recent Abstract Painting’, in SCHAPIRO, Meyer (1978), Modern Art: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, New York: Braziller. pp.217–8, 222–3, 224.

The show is called “Frivolous” and is a set of installation by our artist Zu Jing. Zu Jing hails from Beijing and although she’s been working for a few years now on the series which we are presenting, this is the first showing of them in a gallery. She’s a very talented artist for whom we have high hopes! I’ve written a short introduction to the show on the website and will do a longer text over the next week.

So do join us next Saturday!

The temperature reached 37˚C today. By August, when the Olympics kicks off, it will likely be hotter still.

Looking forward to that.

Of course I was assisted by a number of others that made the whole process more or less seamless. I feel the need to thank the following for their help:-

• Andrew Strojny’s great walk through the basics of how it all hangs together was my starting point to provide a simple starting point to convert the existing XHTML and CSS into wordpress’ own templates.
• poMMo for a great piece of mailing list management software.
• wordpress’ own great documentation and the excellent community on the forums, of course.

I am so happy I use wordpress.

Shu Yong at Highlight Gallery

Highlight Gallery have just opened a group show called Body Media, and although I’ve not been in to see the show yet, it’s been difficult to miss the piece that they’ve placed outside the gallery.

Highlight Gallery is right by one of the entrances to the 798 Art District in Beijing, so placing this particular sculpture outside the gallery, beside the main road was always going to be somewhat problematic (is it obvious what they are? Clue: there’s a tiny woman flying behind them and to which they are connected). And this is the result.

Dust is Dust installation (2008) by Wang Yuyang

I just posted some pictures of the gallery to flickr. Unfortunately, it’s a very small space and the installation uses reduced lighting, and these two factors show up the shortcomings of my camera, but the pictures give a flavour of what we have here.

I was thinking about the show the other day, and why I like it so much. I usually profess to prefer more socially committed work, or work which has some sort interaction for the viewer or direct effect, and this would appear not to have such if you looked at it superficially. However, through talking to the artist (via interpreter, obviously) and thinking about his work’s methods, I’ve come to appreciate the meaning and significance of these works more and more, and how these actually have as much effect in their way as the kind of work I usually go for.

The pursuit of truth is a very strong and emotive subject, and one which is probably common to all of us in some shape or form. Closely allied with truth would be understanding, one step towards truth. The means we take in the pursuit of truth and understanding vary massively – this show and some of the artist’s other pieces investigate the place science and technology take in the formation of ‘truths’ through the facilitation of understanding. Their relationship is scrutinised by the artist and in the pieces is opened up to analysis in itself by the viewer, potentially clarifying the constructions in play.

A corollary of this activity would be that the artist’s very actions are just adding a further layer of complexity to the process. Analysis could go on forever, but at some point we stop, take stock and report on what it is that we have found. Written into that report is the awareness that this is very much a provisional state. This is an artificial, man-made point and one which is as much a construction as any in the subject matter.

Artificial Moon (2007) by Wang Yuyang

I think it’s fair to say it’s all going well. There have been a few minor hiccups which are to be expected when you’ve just opened a space, things which become apparent that weren’t obvious until you get into a ‘production-environment’ and actually open to the public.

For instance, it took a lot of phone calls to CNC to get the internet working (not their fault, I should add, and their English-speaking support was very good), there’s still a strange smell coming from the loo area (must get a fan installed), and perhaps painting the floor white was a bad idea as it’s impossible to keep clean. All ‘live-and-learn’ type stuff.

I still have to work out how to encourage more people to come through the door. I think there’s a basic problem that many are still unaware we are here, and this will be remedied over time, but many who get to the door seem scared to open it. There’s an ‘Open’ notice up on the glass door, but I have the feeling that psychologically that puts people off as it looks like a barrier.

Most visitors are non-English speakers. I think that there is about a 80/20 split of Chinese/foreigners. Of the English-speakers I’ve talked to all seem to like the show, most expressing the opinion that it’s an effective use of the space, with powerful results.

I myself actually feel privileged to be able to present this work and also to be around it everyday – corny I know, but it’s good to have a great ‘product’ to show people, something you can talk about with passion.

And finally, one thing I’m very disappointed about is that Guy and Myriam Ullens (of UCCA fame) have not visited – I went to their place (and met them, although I was with a group from my wife’s work, so I was just a hanger-on on that occasion), it’s only fair they should return the favour!

So, the ’secret’ project that I’ve been working on for the last few months has finally come to fruition. As of Friday 29th February the gallery that I am working on with my colleagues will be open! The gallery is called CPU:798 and is situated (as the name suggests) in the 798 area of Beijing, well-known and perhaps somewhat notorious for the imbalance in the art:reality ratio.

Our first show is a new installation by Wang Yuyang entitled ‘Dust is Dust,’ featuring a series of large-format transparencies of scanning electron microscope scans of dust, and illuminated crystal balls embedded in the floor.

The website is up and running, so please visit and take a look at what’s going on if you aren’t able to visit us in person. If you are in Beijing and are able to pop in, we’d love to see you!

Michelangelo Pistoletto and Me

I should have posted this ages ago, but time has been against me.

This photo of the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto and myself was taken at the opening of Pistoletto’s show at the Continua Gallery in Beijing last month. I am a big fan of his early works, especially the Minus Objects and the Labyrinth which was recreated for this show. The original showing of Labyrinth has personal significance for me as it was one of my very early formative experiences with art and was influential on my own development. It’s use of materials and the alchemical effect on them really opened my eyes to what was possible with art.