段建宇，胡晓媛《醍醐》
Rockbund Art Museum, January – March 2013, curator: Karen Smith
Hu Xiaoyuan’s work was on the lower floors and thus was the first one the visitor encountered. Hu’s work is based on careful observation and questioning of what one sees. The results: Sculptural objects and videos. I found the objects most interesting, because they not only captured observations, but went further and gave them a new form: A paper scroll ripped into pieces and reassembled. A “simulation” of a cut tree trunk with the wooden structure drawn on silk in front of the wooden background, etc. A meaningful dialogue between the original material and it’s artistic rendering emerged. A video where the artist is crossing the camera’s field of view hidden behind a large white scroll of paper and thus barely visible was equally intriguing. Other videos located one floor above lacked some of the impact that the objects could provide: A three-channel projection with a detail of a snowy ground in the middle and two shots of a man on a shore in slow motion on the sides – one playing forwards and one playing backwards. This was a bit conventional and using a reverse-playback video of the sea was as close as this exhibition got to a cliché. Another video – a three channel video with macro details of the props used in the seaside video – was solely about observing. It had the power of National Geographic macro shots, including a certain poetic touch, but the camera kept the aesthetic distance of a curious observer, without penetration of the subject. Finally a two-channel video on small screens provided more of an abstract and dream-like experience: Light cones projected by the rear lights of a moving car on the ground, contrasted with blurred light effects as the light breaks into the camera lens at night. I felt that Hu’s videos were much more convincing in this semi-abstract position where she ventured beyond mere pictoriality and descriptiveness of the image.
Duan Jianyu’s medium of expression is painting. However the connection between Hu and Duan revealed itself quite quickly. Similar to Hu, Duan also observes her surroundings very carefully and then questions what one sees. However while Hu’s focus is mainly on the material itself (wood, paper, light), Duan is closer to the social material of which our lives are constructed. Her paintings are collages of social memes as well as personal experiences and art historical quotations. Looking at the painting of a mermaid watching the sunset executed in a romantic style I almost hesitated whether this was ‘for real’ or not… But I quickly realized that in a similar way as Hu is “simulating” wood on silk, Duan is “simulating” certain tastes and beliefs, with the conscious effort of providing a comment on them. The paintings had a strong narrative edge to them. The juxtapositions of dissimilar yet connected visual quotations fuelled the thought directions as one was wandering with one’s eyes through the painting. The snippets from which the painting was assembled were like quotes taken from a collective subconsciousness. Usually the paintings seemed to have a cynical undertone, but it was miles away from the cynical realism of the Chinese nineties. In the juxtaposition and collage approach, it seemed more like a distant relative of the New Leipzig School.
Overall another very worthy exhibition at the Rockbund Art Museum. Previously I voiced my concerns at the “spectacularity” of the Time Traveller (group exhibition) and Paola Pivi shows at Rockbund. This exhibition successfully evaded this problem. As mentioned above, I found the floor dedicated to Hu’s videos slightly problematic (content wise, the installation was perfect), however on the positive side this floor showed Hu’s rooting in the materiality of reality as opposed to the materiality (of materials) in itself. And without this floor, something would be missing from the show. It was impressive how the curator managed to connect a range of media while keeping a very coherent and unified impression.