Chinese art scene is blooming and Double Exposure, the exhibition that opens its doors on the 13th of October in Shanghai, is a living evidence of this. The exposition has been set by three debuting Chinese curators, Wang Fei, Gu Ni and Yan Qihan, still students at Shanghai University.
Double exposure, refers to a photography technique where the negative film is exposed in two different moments to create a singular effect of 1+1>3. Gu Ni, one of the curators, explains: “In the same way as on the negative the two images join and create a third one, on the show the individual view of the artists and that of the society converge. Those perceptions conform a double exposure to some of the recent events that have shaped Chinese society in the last ten years”.
The exhibition is inspired by two Kubrick’s films: 2001: A Space Odyssey and Shining. On the one hand, as in the well-known film by the American director, the presented works try to include aspects of the evolution of the Chinese society, acting as a loupe: “With the recent events happening in our country, many people seem to have forgotten about their origins and recent past events, therefore, cracks appear between our lives, our time, our human development, etc.”, Ni states. On the other hand, the exhibition also deals with the dimensions of human beings, “both those that are perceptible to the senses and not”, just as in Shining.
The project has been self-funded and managed, with the valuable help of some supporters through crowdsourcing. The participants are a varied group of millennial artists who were selected among 25 different candidates. The choice was guided by Liu Jian Hua, the well-known sculptor who is also one of the professors of the curators. In the exhibition, it is possible to admire one of his works as well as other 11 creations. All the artists have in common a genuine concern about the time passing and how this affects the perceptions of human beings.
The Participants
Liu Jianhua
Liu is a consolidated sculptor and installation artist that uses ceramics and synthetic materials in his artworks. Liu is from Jiangxi Province and for 14 years lived and worked in Jingdezhen, a city well-known by its ceramic production. Liu Jian Hua’s works reflect issues that have impacted China’s economic and social changes of the last years. He exhibited in the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003.
Hu Zeqian
Hu (1994) holds a degree in Fine Art from the Shandong University of Art and Design. He is specialized in experimental art and his artworks deal with feelings, emotions and the pass by of the time. In the exhibition, he presents his last piece The Seeds of Time together with a poem.
Liu Zhaodong
Liu was born in Dalian, Liaoning province, in 1996 and has recently graduated from Hangzhou University. He mainly uses installations as a mean of expression. He prefers minimalist shapes and his artworks are full of a strong humanistic concern, as can be appreciated in the memorial that he devoted to the Wenchuan Earthquake. In the exhibition, he presents The Frog of the Well that symbolises the embarrassment about the future and the unknown world.
Wang Weishen
Wang was born in Jieyang (Guangdong) in 1995. He is a graduate from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. In the installation My Age Size, Wang represents an ordinary living space of the 90’s. This artwork is full of nostalgia and seeks to reflect the change that daily life has experienced in PRC since his childhood.
Mo Yerong
Mo (Foshan, Guangdong, 1994) is major in sculpture and graduate from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art since 2018. In Big World, Mo chases the organic combination of commonality and individuality.
Mo Xuexing
Mo (Foshan, Guangdong) is a current student of the Department of Experimental Arts at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, born in 1996. The work presented in Double Exposure, FAMILY, has also been displayed at the Guangdong Museum of Art. In the piece, she uses some of her dolls to commemorate her childhood memories.
Zhu Yijun
Zhu Yijun was born in Shanghai in 1995 and graduated from Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. He uses artificial intelligence to create kinetic artworks. In Planet chaos he represents de universe and its constant movement.
Cui Li
Cui (1996) graduated from the Sculpture Department of China Academy of Art in 2018. Her presented work, Red House won the Excellent Graduation Creation Award.
Ye Kangling
Ye, born in Guangdong Province in 1994, is a graduate from the College of Art Education from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Her artwork Children’s Fun is inspired in the draws that children make on the sand while playing. In this work, she uses sand to create motifs inspired by kid’s creation.
Yin Yu
Yin (1996, Harbin, Heilongjiang) is majored in sculpture and graduate from Beijing University. With her piece Vision, World Yi challenges the perception of what people think is the real world when watching TV.
Zhu Qinyi
Zhu (1996, Shanghai) got her degree in the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. Her artwork, Newborn, plays with the conception of objects that seem warm and friendly to human beings, presenting a device full of cables and light bulbs. It can be hugged and reacts to the embrace according to the intensity of this.
Gu Gongyi
Gu was born in 1989 and pursued his bachelor degree at the Shanghai Chongming University Shanghai School of Visual Arts and a Master of Arts in Pure Arts at University of New South Wales. Gongyi has practice classical painting for 15 years. His work focuses on the exploration of the world and the interpretation of self-cognition.
The curators
Gu Ni
Gu Ni (1996) is a Shanghainese currently studying at the Design Department of Shanghai University. Double Exposure is her first curated exhibition. She is also collaborating with the Chance Art Fund.
Yan Qihan
Yan (1997) studies sculpture at Shanghai University and Double Exposure is also his first curated exhibition. His main interests deal with philosophy and existentialism.
Wang Fei
Wang (1994) is a student of the Sculpture Department of Shanghai University. She is engaged in the study of art and the cultural industry. Double Exposure is her first curatorial project.
The exhibition can be admired at ArtBox’s gallery (Kaixuan Road, 613, Shanghai) from the 13th till the 28th of October.