White Box Art Center presents "One World, One Dream" exploring Wang Qingsong's creation journey in last decade

TEXT:Sue Wang    DATE: 2014.6.18

Wang Qingsong, State Banquet 01

As a celebrated contemporary artist, Wang Qingsong is highly appreciated at home and abroad. It has been 30 years for him to be engaged in the artistic creation since 1980s, participating in momentous academic exhibition in China as well as the world and was widely recognized.

“One World, One Dream” exhibition is curated by SUE KIM, managing director of White Box Art Center, and this is the first large scale solo exhibition that she has taken charge after joining in the team. It was also the slogan of The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games that had caused the prominent changes and strikingly speeded up the internationalization, which is known to all. In the mean time, other countries and areas around the world are striving together for the unity, such as Juntos num sóritmo as the slogan of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

Named as One World, One Dream, Wang’s new work will be created in the exhibition hall in White Box Art Center, which writes the logo and titles of The Fortune Global 500 and top 500 world universities on the huge blackboard. This is to illustrate how the international integration is intensifying and the individual pursuing is happening as well as to raise concern. There are a variety of contradiction existing, reminding all of us of understanding the world from a prudent perspective. For example, circumstances and aspiration experiencing by people around the world, economic development and spiritual deprivation, national essence and cosmopolitan horizon, age-difference in individual, dream and reality, etc.

Additionally, 5 pieces of photograph and sculptural installation works of Wang’s in recent decade that share the same criticalness will also be presented this time. He pays close attention to various issues among this changing society. For instance, Baggage was a sculpture created specifically for The 2008 Shanghai Biennial. It consisted of different kinds of baggages made of copper, warning people of the instability as a movable individual. In fact, Wang has never been diverted from his own style since 1980s, and till recent 30 years he was still keeping a close eye on issues like the humanity aspiration, faith deprivation, culture interruption, history tracing and regulation re-establishment. All of these problems revealed gradually after the Chinese economic reform, when the national emphasis is put on the economic drastic growth, and this situation was severer in the post-Olympic era.

One World, One Dream will present Wang’s creation journey in last decade with several representative works and it will last until August 3, 2014.

About the artist

Wang Qingsong

1966

Born in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, China

1991-93

Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Sichuan, China

Lives and works in Beijing since 1993

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2014

One World One Dream,Beijing,WHITEBOX ART CENTER

2012

Wang Qingsong, Gallery 100, Taipei, Taiwan.The History of Monuments, Taipei MOCA plaza, Taiwan.

2011

When the World Collides, International Center of Photography, New York City, USA.Happy New Year, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, China.Glorious Life – Wang Qingsong Photo Works 1997-2010, Lucca Photo Festival, Villa Bottini, Lucca, Italy.

2010

Follow Me, Centro Andaluz de la Fotografia, Almeria, Spain

Travelling show details:

- Almería – 15/02 al 18/04 de 2010. Centro Andaluz de la Fotografía

- Cádiz – 16/09 al 1/11 de 2010. Palacio Provincial. Diputación

- Córdoba – 21/01 al 13/03 de 2011. Sala VIMCORSA

- Granada – 12/04 al 4/09 de 2011. Centro Cultural Caja GRANADA Memoria de Andalucía

Wang Qingsong – Fotografie, Stadtmuseum, Siegburg, GermanyWang Qingsong: Three Video Projects, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China

2009

Wang Qingsong, 2009 Hammer Project, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

2008

Caution, PKM Gallery, Beijing, ChinaPhantom China, Kunsthalle Nexus, Saalfelden, AustriaWang Qingsong: Temporary Ward, Baltic Contemporary Art Center, Gateshead, UKPanic, Fear and Violence, Marella Gallery, Beijing, ChinaUnparalleled Madness, Madhouse Contemporary, Hong Kong, China

2007

China: Past, Present & Future, MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen, Germany

Travelling show details:

- 02/2007–10/2007 Kunsthalle Memmingen, Germany

- 01/2008–06/2008 Lokschuppen Rosenheim, Germany

- 10/2008–11/2008 Kunsthaus Nexus Saalfelden, Austria

- 06/2009–08/2009 Museum der Stadt Ratingen, Germany

-11/2009–01/2010 Kunsthaus Bentlage/Rheine, Germany

- 01/2010–03/2010 Stadtmuseum Siegburg, Germany

- 03/2012–05/2012 Galerie EB Zürich, Switzerland

Thinker: Wang Qingsong, Chinablue Gallery, Beijing, ChinaWang Qingsong, PKM Gallery, Seoul, KoreaWang Qingsong: Between Nostalgia and Cynicism, Espaço Cultural Contemporâneo (ECCO), Brasilia, Brazil

2006

Wang Qingsong, Albion Gallery, London, UK

2005

Wang Qingsong in Arras, City Hall, Art Academy and Public Library, Arras, France

2004

Wang Qingsong: Romantique, Salon 94, New York, U.S.A.Wang Qingsong: Romantique, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China

2003-2004

Wang Qingsong: Present-day Epics, Saidye Bronfman Contemporary Art Center, Montreal, Canada, travelling to The Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and etc.

2002

Wang Qingsong Photography, Foundation Oriente, Macau, ChinaGolden Future: Photography by Wang Qingsong, Galerie Loft, Paris, FranceWang Qingsong, Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, ItalySatirizing the Times, 2nd Pingyao Photo Festival, Pingyao, China

2000

Glorious Life: The Photographs of Wang Qingsong, Wan Fung Gallery, Beijing, China

Awards

2006

Outreach Award from Renocontres de le Photographie, Arles, France

Collections

Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China.

White Rabbit Collection, Sydney, Australia.

Asia Society, New York City, USA.

San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, USA

Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia.

Denver Art Museum, U.S.A.

Institut Valencia d'Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

J. Paul Getty Museum, U.S.A.

National Gallery of Victoria, Australia

Hammer Museum, U.S.A.

San Diego Museum of Art, U.S.A.

Billstone Foundation, Spain

Aspen Art Museum, U.S.A.

MUMOK, Austria

New Orleans Museum of Art, U.S.A.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, U.S.A.

Cisneros Foundation, Miami, U.S.A.

Mori Art Museum, Japan

Smart Museum of University of Chicago.U.S.A.

Brooklyn Museum. U.S.A.

Williams College of Art. U.S.A

The Moscow House of Photography, Russia

Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, France

National Art Museum of Brazil, Brazil

Oriente Foundacion, Portugal

Art Tower Mito: Contemporary Art Museum, Japan

JGS Foundation, New York, U.S.A.

Queensland Art Gallery, Australia

The International Center of Photography. New York, U.S.A.

Courtesy of the artist and White Box Art Center.