高碑店 gao bei dian furniture shopping

Constantine is visiting and so we went furniture shopping in Gaobeidian with Rania and Wang Wei. They have all kinds of shops there, selling everything from old yet-to-be refurbished traditional Chinese style furniture, refurbished stuff, new reproductions and everything in between (stone sculpture, stone tubs, old doors, sculptural elements, etc). It is a bit like Urban Ore in Oakland, what with the piles of doors, sinks, tubs, chairs, etc except everything is leftover from houses in the countryside being torn down so way way cooler than anything you could imagine finding in US. Also there is the raw lumber yard where you can buy old reclaimed wood from demolished homes and temples...beautiful hardwoods like elm in massive lengths that are milled on the spot.




shop selling modern reproductions


gigantic guizi cabinet in Lujiaying market




old wheels and timbers at lumber yard

物派 Wu pai, a.k.a. Mono-ha show

There is a really nice show up right now at the Beijing Tokyo Art Project space in 798. It seems so rare to see shows like this here, i.e. shows that deal with historical material or art movements peripherally related to China. The show "What is Mono-ha?" deals with a group of artists active in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Japan known as the mono-ha or wu pai group. Not to be confused with the Gutai artists who were working in more experimental methods including performance and happenings slightly earlier, "Wu pai" in Chinese means something like the "objects group" or "things group", indicating that their work concerns the materiality of objects and a specific approach to 'thingness'. The artists working in this group often made use of natural materials--rope, wood, stone--and mixed these with more industrial or synthetic forms like steel, wire, paper and fiber. The results are beauiful, formally rigrous sculptures and objects that bear distinct relation to minimalism in that they interact with space and the viewer, and arte povera art movements. The show had a symposium at CAFA that included some Chinese artists like Sui Jianguo and Zhu Jinshi but I unfortunately missed it, I'll just have to rely on the show, I guess.

当代艺术与投资发布会 Contemporary Art and Investment

Last week we had a press conference and launch party for Contemporary Art and Investment Magazine, see link to photos here. I am on the editorial board and took part in the press launch because of the special issue that I edited for them last April (to go along with my show at Universal Studios). Anyway, we held the event at Timezone 8 Bookstore in 798, other people on the panel were Zuo Jing, co-editor, Xia Jifeng, Editor in Chief and Carol Lu, co-editor.

小吃 late night snacks

小刘伟个展 Liu Wei solo show at USB

I know it is hard to tell what you are looking at it in these photos but it is basically a freestanding house-type structure consisting of a metal frame filled in with used wooden windows and doors. Inside the 'house' sits several rows of wooden tables and chairs, of the sort you would find in a factory or regular classroom, the ground is covered with several inches of dirt and debris and sparse little trees cap off the corner units. Attached to the house is a giant fan that, when it works, is intended to blow and dust and debris around, creating a whirlwind type of effect. Needless to say, the fan element is a bust, the space being so huge that it requires a humongous fan that draws a lot of energy...i.e. after the fan runs about 10-15 seconds, it blows a fuse and the whole thing shuts down. Despite the failed technology, I must say that the post-industrial air of decay and destruction is alluring (bringing to mind the work of Chen Chieh-jen, among others), and the work itself is rather aesthetically pleasing.

Also in the space are some large paintings, smaller sculptural pieces and some lightbox type things...none of which warrant showing or mentioning here.

movin' on

this past saturday I said farewell to my show Forged Realities at Universal Studios...finally that chapter has come to a close. We started de-installing at 4pm sharp on Saturday, May 12 and this photo was taken at 6:07pm...um this gives you some idea of how fast things go around here! In less than 2 hours everything was gone and the construction for Liu Wei's solo show was underway. It is always a bit disheartening to witness the speed with which shows come down...I am used to this from my days at the Asian Art Museum but somehow here, where things move exponentially quick, it comes across as more dramatic.

Anyway, I am pleased with the overall positive feedback to the show and look forward to posting more when/if things get published. expecting a review to come out soonish. Also the show was featured in San Francisco on National Public Radio link here if you are interested to listen...

keeping myself busy with other things of course. finally getting some reading done and also participating in the press conference and launch party for Contemporary Art and Investment, the magazine through which I edited the special April issue. There are a number of reasons for the event tomorrow (take your pick): They just came out with their 5th issue, just moved operations to Beijing, they are FINALLY going to be able to sell the magazine at Timezone 8's Beijing bookstore in 798...um...probably more...anyway, I hope some people show up.

space of art

"Space of Art-- for rent" in caochangdi

ditto

random

the building bricks of the artworld in Beijing...construction sites and posh dinners/post-dinner drinks

三影堂 Three Shadows

Went today to visit the future site of Three Shadows, a photography art center being built in East End Art district of Beijing. It is solely funded by photography artist Rong Rong and run by Rong Rong, curator Zhang Li, David Mao and others. It is designed by Ai Weiwei of course (what art space being built now isn't being designed by him?) and I went by today to see the site...and was pretty blown away. It is not only HUGE but also a very ambitious undertaking with library, cafe, darkroom facilities, residency program, film and video production facilities, etc. It opens in late June which is just around the corner, when I asked Rong Rong the opening day he responded instantly "50 more days". hmm, do I sense some stress there?






left to right Zhang Li, Rong Rong and Mao Weidong

art fair mania

things have been super hectic this past week. The CIGE (China International Gallery Exposition) started on the 2nd and there have been tons of people in town from all over the world. Of course I went to the fair and ambled around aimlessly (never sure what to do or look at these things, the art is terrible and anything remotely interesting is buried within a mountain of crap, plus it is mostly a networking thing so usually you just stand around and gab with people). After too many hours in that flourescent lit nightmare of a venue--probably the worst way to look at art--I had to nearly run out of the building. eecch! Aside from the fair, I have been of course trying to show off my exhibition so spending lots of time ferrying people there to see it, having dinners, etc. Plus, b/c of the timing of the fair is during the week there are openings every night too, and it is all confusing...I am totally lost as to what day it is...everyday feels like saturday (usually I openings happen on saturdays, my one social evening of the week)!! tomorrow The Contractors are doing a mini-performance thing at the art fair..should be interesting, if I can muster the energy to take part. thank god for rania and wei for picking up the slack.