The artists in this exhibition address ecological, economic and social situations — the works question contemporary (social) values; they employ irony and humor without dismissing the issue; they subvert pontification or taking the high moral ground — they reveal aspects of dystopia while not presuming to present utopian ideals.
Readings and interpretations of situations are subject to individuals' previous experience, their reasoning and their aspirations for the future. The works cover a range of media and reflect modes of practice, which may imply cultural and/or time period differences. The artists may be grouped according to two generations: four are pre-1960s, the other four are post 1970s. The art works will include a diversity of art forms including photo-media, moving image, stills, projection and digital prints, installation and fabricated object.
The gallery positions itself as a cultural hub in the local district of Guangzhou, which is open access to the public to engage with contemporary art.
About the curator: Reg Newitt (Australia)
Reg Newitt currently lives and works in Beijing, China. From 2007 to the present, he has managed Red Gate Gallery and independently curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary art with a strong cross-cultural focus. Examples of major projects include NEW AGE: NEW MEDIA (2011) — a key component of the imagine Australia program; Seeing Red - an inaugural exhibition of a Sino-Australian cultural program in Tianjin (2013) and Peach Blossom Spring | Cacotopia —an international exhibition and public forums involving Chinese, Australian and British artists in Guangzhou and Darwin (2014).
The curated projects have a common concept referencing the similarities and differences between nations, cultures and individuals over time and place. A further aspect of this is questioning notions of belief and certainty-be it social, political, religious or gender related.
Reg Newitt also writes articles and essays published in international magazines (eg NY Arts, Art Monthly Australia), websites, catalogues, brochures and books (eg Red Gate Gallery; China Art Projects; individual artists).
Artists: Bu Hua (China)
Bu Hua was born in 1973 and is currently living and working in Beijing. Selected exhibitions include NEW AGE: NEW MEDIA (2011), China and Australia; Slovenia Graphic Art Biennale; New Wave Art Exhibition, UCCA, Beijing; Busan Biennale 2008 and the Shanghai Biennale 2008. She has gained awards in China, Australia and France. Her work had been collected by Beijing Qiang Fine Arts Gallery, Australia White Rabbit Collection and Macau Galaxy Hotel. As an internet digital artist her work has attracted millions of downloads (Cat) and she has been awarded the International New Media Youth Artist.
Artists: Wang Zhiyuan (China)
Wang Zhiyuan was born in Tianjin and is an independent artist who lives and works in Beijing. He travelled to Australia in 1989 and completed his master's degree at the Sydney College of Arts. His work has been acquired by the Queensland Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia, as well as the White Rabbit Collection of contemporary Chinese art. After living in Australia for eleven years, Wang Zhiyuan returned to Beijing in 2002. From 2006 to 2012 he served as sole consultant to the White Rabbit Collection, Sydney, Australia. Selected solo and group exhibitions include: Wang Zhiyuan Solo, Xindong Chen Space, Beijing (2013); Displacement: Wang Zhiyuan's Solo Show, Enjoy Museum of Art, Beijing (2011); Negotiations: The 2nd Today’s Documents, Today Art Museum, Beijing (2010); Beijing Time, Madrid and Santiago, Spain (2009).
Artists: Gary Lee (Australia)
Gary Lee is a Larrakia artist based in Darwin. Initially trained as an anthropologist, Lee began his career as a photographic artist in the early '90s, concentrating on portraits from the street and on portraits of men in particular. Lee's inaugural project was his Nice Coloured Boys series (still ongoing), which took in countries such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal where the look of the men reminded him of Aboriginal men from his hometown, Darwin. Lee's premise for this series is to combat negative stereotyping and marginalisation of coloured men by celebrating their beauty, individuality, and their act, within the photographic exchange, of positive self-projection.
Eventually, Lee began to photograph Aboriginal men in Darwin and throughout Australia. He also began to photograph non-Indigenous men.
Artists: James Newitt (Australia)
James Newitt was born in Tasmania in 1981, and currently lives and works between Portugal and Australia. In 2007 he graduated with a PhD in fine arts from the University of Tasmania. James has received funding grants for individual and collaborative projects and has been awarded studio residencies in Los Angeles and Liverpool. In 2012 he was awarded a Samstag Scholarship to participate in the Maumaus Independent Study Program in Lisbon. In 2010 he won the City of Hobart Art Prize and in 2009 he was awarded the Qantas Foundation, Contemporary Art Award. James is an Associate Lecturer, at the Tasmanian College of the Arts, and was a founding member and past director of INFLIGHT art. James' work explores specific social and cultural relations, often embracing mutibility and paradox. His videos and installations investigate the spaces between individual and collective identity, memory and history, fact and fiction through personal, observational and performative approaches.
Artists: Jason Wing (Australia)
Jason Wing is a Sydney-based artist who strongly identifies with his bi-cultural (Chinese and Australian Aboriginal) heritage. Wing holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sydney College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Graphic Design, Sydney Graphics College. Selected exhibitions include: Making Change, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2013); Yiban Yiban, Redtory Art & Design Factory Complex Guangzhou (2014). In 2012 he won the Parliament of NSW Aboriginal Art Prize. In 2014 Artspace, Sydney, published Wing's monograph.
Artists: Jayne Dyer (Australia)
Australian artist Jayne Dyer's extensive international experience includes residencies funded by Asialink; Fubon Art Foundation; AGNSW;. Awards include Australia Council for the Arts and and DFAT funding. In 2013 she received the Individual Artist Award, in recognition of Australian arts achievements in Asia. Recent exhibitions include: the Bury Art Museum, Manchester, England (2014); Macquarie University Gallery, Sydney (2013); Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne (2013); Mongolia National Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar (2013); ARTISTERIUM 5 / 2012, Tbilisi, Georgia, ARTBosphorus Art Fair, Istanbul (2012); URS27 Urban Regeneration Series, Taipei (2011); Today Art Museum, Beijing (2010); Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei (2009). Public and corporate commissions include K11 Art Mall, Hong Kong; Four Seasons, Beijing; Crown Hotel-Perth, Manila, Melbourne; Swire East & City Plaza, Hong Kong.
Artists: Andy Holden (England)
Andy Holden lives and works in Bedford, UK. Recent solo exhibitions include Towards a Unified Theory of MI!MS, at Spike Island, Bristol, (2014); Zabludowicz Collection, London (2013); Chewy Cosmos Thingly Time at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, UK (2011); Art Now: Andy Holden, Tate Britain, UK (2010). Group exhibitions include Performa13, New York, (2013); Art Now Live, Tate Britain (2011); The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things (Curated by Mark Leckey), Hayward Touring, 2013. In 2010 he curated Be Glad For the Song Has No End at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, and in 2012 he adapted David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interview’s with Hideous Men for the stage at the ICA in London.
Artists: Wayne Warren (England)
Wayne Warren graduating in 1972 from Exeter University, London, with a bachelor's degree in Art and Education Psychology. He has exhibited in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. Some of Warren's most recent exhibitions include SCOPE New York (2014); International Artists Tianjin Creative Industries Expo 2013, China; "Moniker Art Fair 2013", London; and postEDEN, Today Art Museum, Beijing (2010). His work is in many public and private collections in various countries and continents including Australia, Britain, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China and the United States.
His work highlights the consumer's fixation with materialism and challenges our personal valuation of physical goods. In his 'Gold Series', Wayne synthesizes common items and transforms them into art. They are cast into a thematic representation of what society adores: wealth (gold) and fashion.
About the exhibition
Duration: 22 Nov - 28 Dec, 2014 10:00-22:00
Venue: Kui Yuan Gallery
Opening Reception: 22 Nov 2014, Sat, 15:00
Tel: 020-87659746
Add: Kui Yuan Gallery, No.9, Xuguyuan Road,Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Courtesy of the artists and Kui Yuan Gallery.
