On June 12th, 2012, Zhao Yao's solo exhibition "You Can’t See Me, You Can’t See Me" opened at Beijing Commune, which serves as a continuation of his last show on the same day last year. Zhao Yao’s latest paintings and installations will be showcased. What is the significance in the context of the same date, the same venue and the same artist along with a year’s gap?
Various details implicitly tell the viewers that this exhibit aims at “exhibit,” which consists of reflecting the accumulation of time and space, déjà-vu-sque displaying approach, as well as visually aggressive artworks. Distinguished from common presentation of the outcomes, this exhibit departs from reexamining the validity and meaning of an exhibit; moreover, to undermine the naïve relationship between the artists and the audiences that was set up by means of presenting exhibits over and over again.
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Zhao attempts to make the viewers abandon their preconceived ideas about him, so as to be capable of fleeing away from their expectations and acquire the ultimate liberation to create artworks. “Re-creation” is an attitude or value, within which signifies a restrained strong and dynamic creativity, figuratively the massive gravity of a black hole, which is greatly entangled with the artist’s works. As Zhao says, the spur of creativity actually immerses in the inertia of desires. Yet, he also mentions his doubt about so-called “creativity,” and the unreasonable pursuit of art in society. His contradictory attitude often implies denial of one’s own.
The artworks this time originate from four sources. Firstly, Zhao uses different materials to recreate the works displayed in “I Am Your Night” at Beijing Commune last year. He enlarges or compresses the artworks in differentiated proportions, or takes out the initial artworks (without any changes) for the exhibit this time. Lastly, he borrows his sold artworks from collectors. Zhao deliberately intertwined the roles of artists, viewers, gallery owners and collectors by manipulating these four methods. Consequently, Zhao’s current show practically fulfills re-consumption of his last exhibit, and simultaneously opens the door to concepts. It not only hoists and continues on from the last exhibit, but serves as a period in a sentence. Under the prerequisite of few changes, Zhao tentatively observes the viewers’ feedback with patience: can they obtain the same inspiration as before? Or are they aware of the existence of creativity this time? The viewers are by no means passively met with the artworks; rather, they explore and alter the memories together with the artist.
About the Exhibition
Date: 2012.06.12 - 08.12
Gallery Hour: 10:00-18:00 Tuesday-Saturday
Venue: Beijing Commune
Address: Beijing Commune,P.O.Box 8503,798 Art Factory, 4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing100015,China
Phone: +86 10 8456 2862
E-mail: info@beijingcommune.com
Courtesy of the artist and Beijing Commune, for further information please visit www.beijingcommune.com.
