Jiang Zhi, Apologies (Alongshan) (still), 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Aranya Art Center, Qinghuangdao.
Aranya Art Center announces Chinese artist Jiang Zhi's solo exhibition Life, which features nearly thirty works from 1997 to the present, outlining the artist's consistent and ongoing creative trajectory. Jiang Zhi works across a wide range of media, including photography, painting, video, and installation. Fiction and poetry have also been an important part of his artistic output. Consistently engaging with contemporary social and cultural issues, Jiang consciously positions himself at the intersection of poetry and sociology, while weaving mundane social and personal experiences into his works.
This exhibition is organised by Sun Wenjie, independent curator, and Jiang Ruoyu, curatorial assistant at the Aranya Art Center.
About the Artist
Born in 1971 in Yuanjiang, Hunan, China, Jiang Zhi graduated from China Academy of Art in 1995. As one of the most versatile Chinese artists of his generation, Jiang Zhi has had two major solo retrospectives at OCAT Shenzhen (2016) and Times Museum in Guangzhou (2012). His work has also been exhibited by international institutions and biennials, including Art and China after 1989__: Theater of the World (Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA, 2017), the 9th Shanghai Biennial (Shanghai Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2012), the 4th Guangzhou Triennial (Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China, 2012), The First Today's Documents (Beijing Today Art Museum, 2007), Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China (ICP and Asia Society, New York, USA, 2004), Zone of Urgency, the 50th Biennale di Venezia (Venice, Italy, 2003), and the 4th Gwangju Biennale (Gwangju, South Korea, 2002). Jiang was awarded the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2000, the Academic Award of Reshaping History ('Chinart' from 2000 to 2009) in 2010, and the Credit Suisse Today Art Award in 2012.
About the Curator
Wenjie Sun is a curator that holds a BA in Arts Administration from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Since 2018, she has been a guest lecturer at the School of Design and the Institute of Arts Administration and Education of the CAFA. Sun was a participant in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) in 2023. She joined the Red Brick Art Museum in 2016 and served as the Head of Exhibitions from 2017 to 2023. In this role, she initiated and oversaw various projects involving exhibitions, publications, collections, and external partnerships with diverse institutions and individuals.
Sun was one of the curators of the second Bangkok Art Biennale Escape Routes in 2020. She has curated exhibition projects independently for art awards, foundations, museums, galleries, art fairs, and other organisations. In addition to promoting the academic publishing of the Red Brick Art Museum, she has been involved in the translation and publication of the Chinese edition of A Companion to Contemporary Art Since 1945 (2021), and she has written for artist Christian Jankowski's catalog, as well as for a number of art publications.
About the Exhibition
Dates: 16 March–30 June, 2024
Venue: Gallery 1-5, Aranya Art Center
Courtesy of Aranya Art Center.
