HUANG YUANQING, OUYANG CHUN & SHI ZHIYING

Posted on 2013-07-29

A unique and leading figure of abstract art in China, Huang Yuanqing integrates Eastern and Western techniques and approaches to abstract painting.Skilled as a calligrapher, Huang’s paintings take a contemporary literati position, working from the traditional concept that painting and calligraphy stem from the same source. Guided by line, profuse layers of color and textures, Huang’s intuitive language emerges slowly, appearing flexible and yet precise, guided by a rhythmic intelligence leading each resulting work. Contrary to the principles of calligraphy, however, Huang’s paintings are created over a period of time, sometimes taking months or even years, suspending his process and output, and thus allowing time to play a critical and essential role in the completion of a finished work.

Ouyang Chun is well known for his subconscious investigations and diary-style narration. “Much of the time,” the artist has stated, “I’m painting to explain myself, not simply to explain the painting process.” Ouyang depicts urban and social life with a critical and sometimes mischievous eye. His paintings feel closer to outsider art, connected to folklore, and are often based on the idea of excess and accumulation. A network of images and objects fuse, seemingly random, but embody their own symbolic power, order, and universal significance. No image or object is taken for granted. Like many of the artists of his generation, he discarded political themes early in his development, seeking the greater potential in self-expression and personal psychology. The world of children, kings and queens, whales, mythological legends of the world and all who inhabit it, are central to Quyang’s works that consciously avoid any definitive style, giving free rein to the inner world of the artist.

In contrast to the other two artists, Shi Zhiying is known for her stark black and white oil paintings of vast monochromatic vistas of the sea, endless landscapes of scattered rocks, traditional sand gardens, and intricate blades of grass. Shi’s paintings are deeply visceral and contemplative, and summon intense reflection on individuality and the passage of time. The featured work in this exhibition is the painting The Infinite Lawn, which was the pivotal work in her solo exhibition at the Shanghai gallery last year. Shi will have her first solo exhibition at James Cohan Gallery in New York this month, where she will debut her latest body of work, The Relics, inspired by the artist’s travels in China, Cambodia, and India

Opposite – Huang Yuanqing, Untitled 2005-2013, 2013

Exhibition runs through to August 31st, 2013

James Cohan Gallery
1/F Building 1, No. 1 Lane
170 Yue Yang Road
200031 Shanghai
PRC China

www.jamescohan.com

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CHRIS NEWMAN – A PILGRIMAGE IN MY OWN APARTMENT

Posted on 2013-07-29

Newman counts the words in Henrik Ibsen’s drama ‘Ghosts’ and has these numbers assigned to colours and colour combinations. Far from any idea of symbolism and psychology, the artist measures and makes his marks on the canvas with rational calculation and selects the respective colour palette as ‘created by Ibsen ‘. It is the result of a synthetic method that is only the means to an end. Through this, Newman rids himself of responsibility for his composition and consciously hands over the control.

The paintings are created in the limited space of his studio apartment. Newman takes a large distance from the canvas, in order to then reach out with the brush, several times, sometimes dancing. He paints with both hands. He does all of this blind, with closed eyes, but not to distance himself from the outside world but rather, as Newman says, to be ‘closer to the world’ in order to lose ‘bourgeois control’. He works very quickly to remain unbiased and to undermine any control by means of self-observation. The process is a daily exercise for the artist, for his ‘pilgrimage’ as he himself has put it.

Each of his paintings depicts the repetitive experiment, the exact moment of finding the counterpoint that is necessary to create a painting on the canvas. It is exactly that amount that the process requires and it is no less that gives purpose to the method.

To find the beauty in Chris Newman’s paintings, one does not need to know the background of his work. It is even less required to identify any potential remnants of narratives. It is a sense of body, a genuine unconscious and the dismissal of rational control that makes Newman’s works so lively and filled with deeper beauty.

Opposite – 13-002, 2013

Exhibition runs through to September 14th, 2013

Alexander Ochs Galleries Berlin
Besselstraße 14
10969 Berlin
Germany

www.alexanderochs-galleries.com

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ANDY WARHOL & TIM BESSELL – WARHOL SURF

Posted on 2013-07-29

Andy Warhol Surfboards by Tim Bessell Brings Warhol’s movie “San Diego Surf” and his art together in perfect harmony. In October 2012, Andy Warhol’s 1970’s movie ‘San Diego Surf’ was released for the first time in New York City at the Museum of Modern Art. Timing couldn’t be more perfect with the release of the first series of Warhol Bessell Surfboards hand crafted by Tim Bessell.

The first series of Warhol Bessell Surfboards consisted of 5 boards representing Warhol’s art symbolically as it pertains to surfing.

To celebrate the release of the 2nd series, 5 more designs, we present an exhibition of all 10 boards. The Artist Series of all 10 Warhol Bessell Surfboards will be featured and for sale in this exhibition at Stolenspace.

Bessell’s Artist Series surfboards pay homage to famous artists he’s drawn inspiration from through the surfboards he’s become renowned for. Released in very limited editions, these handmade works were released in collaboration with the Warhol Foundation, taking Andy Warhol’s graphics and combining them with his most popular surfboard shapes.

Exhibition runs from August 2nd to September 1st, 2013

Stolenspace Gallery
17 Osborn Street
London
E1 6TD
UK

www.stolenspace.com

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