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platformcina

Subtlety 2008.8.30 － 2008.10.12 Curator: Karen Smith Artists: Aniwar, He An, Hu Xiaoyuan, Jia Aili, Qiu Xiaofei, Wang Wei, Xiao Yu, Xu Ruotao, Zhaung Hui

Opening Party: August 30, 2008, 4:00PM Venue：Platform China Contemporary Art Institute Main Space A & B

"… [the] rejection of false or naive explanations is as important as the search for better and more correct causal theories. We must clear the ground of rubbish before we can build."

No one can define art absolutely. Everyone has an opinion as to what art can or can not be; of the acceptable and unacceptable forms it can take; the boundaries it can approach but neither ought to touch or cross. Post-modernist theory did much to break through those boundaries, just as Modernism had done in its time. Post-modernism also went one step further than anything prior to it: unleashing a ‘freedom’ as to what art could be—anything the artist decreed. Today, one can’t help sensing that what began as a positive spirit of anarchy has descended into a vapid, untrammelled ‘anything-goes’. The line between the two—between success and not quite succeeding; between triumph and falling just-short-of-the-mark, between enduring power and temporal punch—is so very fine: so subtle. Most people would agree with the following (1) An artist is a person who participates with understanding in the making of a work of art. (2) A work of art is an artifact of a kind created to be presented to a public audience. In terms of the first, there is always brilliance, there is always sublime inspiration and glorious invention. But increasingly, as the boundaries shift and fade, certain elements they once served to define are fading with them. This has a tendency to result in a complex process of navigating these ‘artifacts of a kind created to be presented to a public audience’. Today, formal considerations are less important than the events, contexts or issues to which a work alludes, or blatantly illustrate. Many works pivot on concepts tied to fleeting moments and temporal events. Art works no longer seek to stand alone, to speak beyond their time. Does it matter? We are in an age of increasing globalisation and universal understanding, are we not? Again, does it matter? Perhaps not, but it does beg the question: what are the enduring values of art? What is important today? Each of these artists is engaged in an on-going, very personal search for what they feel to be correct, in line with which they are constantly clearing new ground.

‘Subtlety’ sets out to explore this process. In a group of commissioned works from nine leading contemporary artists, we find a diverse range of ideas, thought processes, and sensibilities. The works ask the viewer to respond to their subtle nature, and consider what distinguishes enduring art from temporal trends: the importance of the search, and a desire to build on what has gone before.

3 years, 9 months ago

platformcina

Fire His Breath, Jade His Bones New Work by Shi Jinsong 2008.7.26 － 2008.8.24 Curator: Wu Hung

Opening Party: JULY 26, 2008, 2：59PM Venue：Platform China Contemporary Art Institute Main Space B

Platform China Contemporary Art Institute is pleased to present Shi Jinsong’s new solo exhibition - Fire His Breath, Jade His Bones -- curated by Wu Hung. This show challenges the conventional concept of an exhibition by emphasizing the “materiality” of contemporary art. The idea of this project first emerged in the summer of 2007 when Shi Jinsong became enchanted by the potential of two kinds of natural materials in making art: fire and jade. This exhibition is the result of his experimentation with both materials over the past year.

The exhibition contains three works - two are related to fire and one uses jade. One of the “fire” works is a burning piece of charcoal made from an enormous tree trunk; the other is an exposed car engine with a stainless steel exhaust system that turns red following periodic explosions. Because of the shortage of appropriate terminology we may call them installations, but both works are far from “readymade,” resulting instead from carefully planned transformation of natural materials and utilitarian objects. The third work in the exhibition is a tiny jade human head set on a stainless steel base upstairs. Motorized by a mechanism it strikes the wall at the rate of 16 times per minute. Its “cool” material and monotonous, repetitive action contrast dramatically with the two “fire” works displayed downstairs.

These works all allude to violence and danger, but of different forms and cultural connotations. They impress people with a penchant for danger as well as for technological precision---a characteristic of Shi Jinsong’s art which achieves a new level of expressiveness.

If displayed in a western museum, such installations would have most likely been presented as flameless and “safe” objects. To be shown in Platform China Contemporary Art Institute in Beijing’s Caochangdi, however, these works are imbued with deep social and psychological significance: the fusion of aggressive burning and impassionate technical calculation reflect what may be called the current “China conditions” - the country’s impatient and explosive thrust into the modern world, and the exhilaration and threat generated by such desire and movement.

3 years, 10 months ago

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